Divas Don't Knit

Jo Mackenzie (sounds a bit like "Gil McNeil", doesn't it?) is not having an easy time. Shortly after foreign correspondent husband Nick tells her that he is leaving her, he crashes his car into a tree, leaving her with a surprise second mortgage, no money, and two small boys. With limited options, Jo moves her family to a small seaside town and takes over her Gran's near-moribund knit shop. After her isolated life in London, life in a small town - replete with loony aristocrats, bossy old ladies, a celebrity client and a couple of rather endearing men - is a revelation to Jo.

Okay, this isn't great literature. It's a gentle, slow-moving story with a lot of really great dialogue, though. I loved Jo's best friend Ellen, the potty-mouthed show more news anchor who can't open her mouth without letting loose a string of profanity. (Man, the British can CUSS. I never heard anything like it, they make American thugs look like pansies.) I'm a real Anglophile anyway, so the chattiness, the slang expressions, the "pets" and "loves" and "absolute bollocks" just cheered me up enormously. It's the perfect book for the end of a stressful day - or for a vacation - or to act as an antidote to nasty politicians and opinion commentators. show less

Since I don't knit, I'd been avoiding the numerous knitting-group novels which seem to have supplanted book-club-themed books in the domestic fiction area. But the colorful cover (not the one shown) of the large-print edition led me to pick it off the shelf, and after sampling a few pages I was hooked. The English setting probably helped, as I'm a big fan of Erica James and Katie fforde, whose books have some similarities to this one.

Jo Mackenzie-Jones, formerly an editor for BBC News and now a stay-at-home mother, is having a lot of life-changing experiences all at once. First, her husband Nick informs her of his wish to divorce her (he's been having an affair); next he's killed in a car accident; then she discovers he's taken out a show more second mortgage on their suburban London home, which she now can't afford. Luckily, her much-loved Gran wants Jo to take over her yarn shop in a coastal town in Kent. So off Jo and her two small boys go, and hijinks ensue -- I especially liked the scenes with Trevor, the soccer-playing dog. Jo updates the shop, makes new friends, and stands up to bullies of one kind and another, while dealing with her still-ambivalent feelings of grief about Nick.

This was a quite enjoyable book with a lot of humor and engaging characters. If you like stories about spunky women doing interesting work, who deal with adversity with a little help from their friends, you'll enjoy this book even if you don't knit a stitch. show less

A quiet charmer of a book about Jo Mackenzie, newly widowed just after her husband told her he was leaving her for another woman. She leaves London with her two young boys to take over her Gran's wool and knitting shop in a sleepy beachside town in England. Nothing phenomenal or earth-shattering happens here; just a growing affection for the characters here, and the honesty, charm and quietly witty dialogue. This is about starting over, with the help of friends, and the effort to preserve the truly meaningful joys in life. I have read books that have been thunderously moving, laugh-out-loud hilarious and pulsating with a deeper meaning. I have read few that I have just plain liked so much.

Jo's cheating husband asks for a divorce, then crashes the car leaving Jo a widow with two young kids. Broke, she moves back to her seaside hometown and takes over running Gran's knitting shop. Lots of eccentric characters, a neighbor's monstrous dog that her boys love and quirky dialog make this an easy read. I'll look for others by this author.

Synopsis: Jo Mackenzie, recovering from the death of her nearly divorced spouse, moves to a small town and takes over her grandmother's yarn shop. She has to cope with a prima donna PTA president, a fussy employee, a crazy neighbor and his high energy dog, a movie star, and her two young boys. Her best friend, a news anchor, helps her adjust.
Review: As a rule I'm not fond of SOL books, but this book was great fun to read. There is lots of humor and very little whining. Obviously the author has lived in a small town and/or met the folks she's writing about.

This is a nice read about Jo McKenzie, recently widowed and moved to the Kent coast with her two small boys to run a wool shop. There is plenty of light humour in the book, and not a great deal of depth, but it hits the spot for a fun and easy read.

I loved the descriptions of the shop, the wool, the Stitch and Bitch knitting group and their creations, and particularly Jo's relationship with the resident shop assistant, battleaxe Elsie, with whom Jo has several run-ins when she tries to change things. I also liked Jo's boys, Jack and Archie, who I thought were very cute characters.

I'll definitely be getting hold of a copy of the sequel as I thought Divas Don't Knit was an enjoyable read, and would recommend it if you're after something show more that doesn't tax the brain too much but keeps the reader interested. show less

I usually don't like the kind of books where a group of women come together over some common interest (books, knitting, or something) and find strength and courage, becoming better people, etc, etc. I was really concerned that this would be one of those books, but it actually wasn't. There's a genre of literature, too, which has become kind of called "knitting fiction" where a women in her 30s-40's has a profound life-changing event, and as she begins to find her way, ends up in a knitting group with a diverse group of women. YAdda, yadda, yadda.

Well, Jo, in this book, does have a profound life-changing event (her husband tells her he's leaving her, they argue and he storms off into the night, only to be killed in a car crash.) She also show more has two kids, who actually are pretty realistically portrayed. And her family is also pretty realistic, with good souls, and nuts. There's a little glamor thrown in via her best friend Ellen, who is a TV celeb, and a bit more glitter with the introduction of a movie star getting back to her roots by buying the local manse. But all in all, it's unpretentious. Jo buys into her grandmother's wool shop and moves it slowly into this century. There is a knitting group, but it's a small part of the story. There's some romantic interest, but not as a distraction, more as a plot development. And there's a lot of humor, and a very large gallumping dog.

Anyhow, it was a light, enjoyable read, even if the title is never mentioned in the book, and I'll look for the author's next book. show less