1. What is Sarah hoping to find when she moves with her husband to Waterford, PA? Does she really believe that she can make a fresh start in this small college town, or is she just making the best of things?  Does she seem happy in her marriage? What do you think she really wants?

2. Why is Sarah so drawn to the quilt she first sees at Elm Creek Manor? What does this luminous, light-filled creation symbolize for her, in terms of love and loss and her earlier life?

3. Sylvia Compson lived through the horror and heartbreak of World War II. How did these experiences change her? What role does quilt-making play in her life today? How has the recent loss of her sister Claudia affected Sylvia? What about a much earlier tragedy?

4. Describe the relationship that develops between Sylvia and Sarah.  What does each woman get out of this friendship? In what ways does Sylvia remind Sarah of her own grandmother?

5. Teaching Sarah how to quilt fulfills something very profound in  Sylvia. Explain what you think that is, and how it ties in to the   major themes of the book.

6. How does Sarah help Sylvia to finally accept her past? How does Sylvia help Sarah come to terms with her past? How do both women help  each other prepare for the future?

7. “Sorrows come to us all,” Sylvia’s great-aunt once said to her. How does the adult Sylvia translate this portentous statement into the  creation of dark and light sections of a quilt? If red squares “keep  the fires burning,” what do the other colors symbolize?

8. What kinds of changes do Sarah and Sylvia undergo by the book’s end? What have they discovered about friendship, acceptance, loyalty,  and love?