# Read the first page of The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini Read the opening of The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini free, no signup. A restless newcomer learns quilting from a cantankerous old woman. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/the-quilters-apprentice-jennifer-chiaverini - Genre: Historical fiction - Year: 1999 - ISBN: 9781416556992 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781416556992&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781416556992 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781416556992 ## The opening Sarah leaned against the brick wall and tried to look comfortable, hoping no one walking by would notice her or wonder why she was standing around in a suit on such a hot day. She shaded her eyes with her hand and scanned the street for Matt's truck—their truck—but she didn't expect to see it. He wasn't late; she was early. This interview had been her shortest one yet. A drop of perspiration trickled down between her shoulder blades to the small of her back where her silk blouse was tucked into her navy skirt. She removed her suit jacket and folded it over her arm, but she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable until she was back in her customary T-shirt and shorts. A barrette held her hair away from her face, and the back of her neck sweltered beneath the thick, brown waves. The people who slowly passed on their way to jobs, shopping, or summer classes at nearby Waterford College looked as uncomfortable and as drained by the humidity as Sarah felt. In a few months, she knew, she'd be griping about the snow like everyone else in central Pennsylvania, but today she longed for autumn. The handle of her briefcase began to dig into her palm. As she shifted it to her other hand, she glanced at the revolving door half a block away. With her luck, some of the interviewers would leave early for lunch and spot her lingering there. They'd probably urge her to wait inside in the air-conditioning, and then she'd have to figure out some polite way to refuse. That, or slink back inside like a reprimanded child. The thought of it made her shrink back against the wall. Two staccato beeps of the horn sounded before Sarah saw the red truck pull up and park along the opposite curb. She pushed herself away from the wall and hurried across the street. “How'd it go?” Matt asked as she slid into the passenger's seat. “Don't ask.” Though she had tried to keep her voice light, Matt's face fell. He started the truck, then reached over and patted her knee. “I guess you already know how sorry I am about all this.” “Sorry about what? You're early.” “You know what. Don't pretend you didn't understand. If not for me and my job, we never would've moved here.” “It's not like you dragged me here by my hair.” Sarah closed her eyes and sank back into her seat. “It's not your fault I don't have a clue how to make it through a job interview without sounding like an idiot.” “You're not an idiot.” “And you're not responsible for my unemployment.” “Well, I feel bad anyway,” he responded as he pulled into traffic. “I mean it, Sarah. I'm really sorry.” Of course he felt sorry. So did she, but feeling sorry didn't make her any less unemployed. Apparently, neither did working her tail off to graduate with a great GPA and sacrificing every other available moment to part-time jobs and internships to gain work experience. Even the years she had invested in her last job apparently did her more harm than good. Potential employers took one look at her résumé, noted all the accounting experience, and refused to consider her for any other kind of work. Sometimes Sarah thought back to those first years after college and wondered how she and Matt ever could have been so hopeful, so optimistic. Of course, their prospects had seemed brighter then, colored by newlywed joy and professional naiveté. Then the newness faded from her job as a cost accountant for a local convenience store chain, and the days began to follow each other in an unrelenting cycle of tedium. Matt enjoyed his job working on the Penn State campus, but just after he had been promoted to shift supervisor, the state legislature slashed the university's budget. College officials decided that they could do without new landscaping more easily than library books and faculty salaries, so Matt and many of his coworkers found themselves out of work. They soon learned that open positions were hard to come by in a medium-sized college town in the middle of Pennsylvania. Matt couldn't find anything permanent, only occasional landscaping jobs for some of his former agricultural science professors. One by one, his former coworkers found jobs in other towns, sometimes in other states. But Matt was determined to find something in State College, the town where he and Sarah had met, where they had married, and where one day they hoped to raise children. Eventually even Matt's natural optimism waned, and he grew discouraged every month. ## Books with a similar feel - [Empress of the Seven Hills by Kate Quinn](https://uncovered.ink/read/empress-of-the-seven-hills-kate-quinn.md) - [Love of a Cowboy by Jennifer Ryan](https://uncovered.ink/read/love-of-a-cowboy-jennifer-ryan.md) - [The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-paris-library-janet-skeslien-charles.md) - [Fludd by Hilary Mantel](https://uncovered.ink/read/fludd-hilary-mantel.md) - [Never by Ken Follett](https://uncovered.ink/read/never-ken-follett.md) - [Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell](https://uncovered.ink/read/fools-and-mortals-bernard-cornwell.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.