15 February 2019

Review: Threads of Life - A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle by Clare Hunter

Threads of Life by Clare Hunter
* Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia *

I've been enjoying cross stitch for many years now and while it will always remain secondary to my passion for books and reading, it's an activity I thoroughly enjoy. I find it relaxing and rewarding to watch a piece take shape, stitch by stitch and thread by thread.

After seeing some ecclesiastical needlework and medieval tapestries at the Victoria and Albert Museum last year, I was keen to learn more about the history of needlework. Threads of Life - A History of the World Through the Eye of a Needle by Clare Hunter was a great place to start.

Packed with historical fact - sometimes a little too much - Threads of Life certainly does attempt to take on the history of the world.

I enjoyed learning more about the Bayeux Tapestry, the stitching completed by Mary, Queen of Scots and WWI soldiers suffering from PTSD. I was stunned to read about the Northern Ireland Game of Thrones® Tapestry, and put the book down to watch the 30 minute coverage of the entire tapestry on YouTube. It was impressive and I hope to see it one day.

In fact, I often had to stop reading to go and look up certain artworks and artists like Mary Delany, Mary Linwood and more. I dearly wished the publisher had considered including photographs of any sort to complement the content within. Needlework is such a visual art and without any photographs or sketches (colour or black and white) I felt the book was lacking.

Threads of Life is recommended for readers interested in any of the ways needlework has been used to communicate a message, create desirable artwork, delineate between the rich and the poor, raise women out of poverty, provide captives with hope and the damaged a way to heal.

My rating = ***1/2

Carpe Librum!

Would you like to comment?

  1. I am a life long stitcher so this will have to go on my tbr list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. In that case Laura, I think you'll enjoy this. What do you like to stitch?

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment, Carpe Librum!