Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky is not strictly a knitting novel, but it is a novel where knitting--and a knitting store--figures prominently.
More importantly, this is a story about the way the past shapes the future and how a legacy is defined, and what makes a family truly a family.
What Child is This?
Dana and Hugh Clarke are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first child as Family Tree opens. Hugh is from a family that knows the meaning of heritage and has its own line traced back generations upon generations.
His father has even just written a book about his family tree that is about to be published.
Dana, on the other hand, knows almost nothing about her family. Her mother died when she was five, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother, the owner of a yarn shop. Dana was always told that her conception was based on a casual relationship her mother had while away at college.
She's never had much interest in finding her father or worrying about what he was like. But when the baby is born, everyone gets very interested in Dana's history.
Dana and Hugh are white, but their baby, a little girl named for Dana's mother, clearly has African American characteristics. The trouble is, no one knows where they might have come from.
The Yarn Store as Refuge
Hugh's family immediately suspects that Dana has had an affair and the child doesn't belong to their family at all. For the most part Hugh trusts his wife, however, and urges her to do all she can to find her father to find out if he's black.
A great majority of this book is devoted to characters asking themselves and each other "What are we going to do?" and "Why does it matter anyway?" As much as everyone seems to think it shouldn't make a difference, to most people, it does.
While Dana tries to unravel her family secrets and care for a new child while her marriage seems to be falling apart around her, the only comfort she can find is in spending time at the yarn store with her grandmother and other friends.
"Dana was desperate to sit at the long wood table with its bowl of apples in the middle," Delinsky writes. "She longed to hear the whir of the ceiling fan, the rhythmic tap-tap of the needles, the soft conversation of friends.
"If she had any history at all--any place where she was loved unconditionally--that was it."
Side Stories
In the meantime, Hugh, a lawyer with a particular interest in representing minorities and unpopular causes, meets a woman at the hospital whose 4-year-old son was hit by a car. She has no insurance and no support from the boy's father, a senator who is always talking about the importance of family values.
Since the senator is a longtime acquaintance of Hugh's family, taking on the case doesn't make him any more popular with his parents, who have grown distant and suspicious since the birth of the baby. Hugh's father complains that the birth of a dark-skinned child will ruin his book sales.
Another side story deals with the financial situation of a frequent visitor to the yarn store. While these stories add somewhat to readers' understanding of the main characters, they mostly just dilute the main story and none of them are really resolved at the end of the book.
For people who like yarn store stories, as well as stories about the power of family that just happen to involve a little knitting, this is an entertaining summer read. Despite the heavy subject matter it is light and quick reading that will entertain knitters and non-knitters alike.
The Author and Knitting
Turns out Barbara Delinsky is quite the dedicated knitter, having learned to knit soon after her mother died when she was 8 years old.
To celebrate the book and the heritage of knitting that is written about in the book, Berroco introduced a booklet of four patterns named after characters in the book:
- The Elizabeth shawl is a modern take on a Faroese shawl knit by Dana in the novel.
- The Saundra throw is a baby blanket/afghan knit in connected hexagons, which look complicated but are really easy to put together.
- The Dana bag is a felted Fair Isle-style knitting or diaper bag with six pockets surrounding the main compartment.
- The Lizzie layette is a matching baby bunting, hat and mittens.
