The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club

Starred review from January 26, 2009
Smart novels about starting over don’t get any better than this sweet treat by Brit author McNeil (Divas Don’t Knit
). Jo Mackenzie, full-time mum to little rascals Jack and Archie, is blindsided when her foreign correspondent husband, Nick, admits to an affair and asks for a divorce, only to be killed soon after in a car crash. Now Jo must keep up an awkward grieving widow facade. When her grandmother offers Jo the family knit shop, Jo sells her London flat and moves to the small seaside town of Broadgate Bay. When she decides to start a “stitch and bitch” group above her shop, the ancient shop assistant resists her innovations, but happily, the woman’s son, Martin, is back in town and newly divorced. Then a chance encounter with a movie star, the town’s newest resident, adds to Jo’s misadventures. Readers will be kept in stitches by the mishaps and antics of Jo, an endearing Bridget Jones with baggage. McNeil’s top-notch writing and quick wit keep the plot spinning until the wholly satisfying, and not entirely expected, conclusion.

February 1, 2009
After her husband death's in a car crash, Jo Mackenzie packs up her two sons and moves from London back to her hometown to run a knitting shop. Her ideas to revitalize the shop bring in a variety of new customers and with them an assortment of problems, complications, and eventual friendships. Unfortunately, Jo's two young boys, Archie and Jack, have to be the most obnoxiously ghastly children on the planet; many readers will have to resist the urge to stab the little darlings with knitting needles. Readers will also have to deal with a bit of English slang, but for many this will only make the story more charming. There's really nothing new here, but it's still a pleasant read that will fit into the women's fiction niche quite nicely. In light of the current popularity of needle arts, especially knitting, McNeil's debut will quickly find an audience. Recommended for any public library.Margaret Hanes, Warren Civic Ctr. Lib., MI

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2009
On the heels of the success of The Friday Night Knitting Club (2007) and its sequel, Knit Two (2008), British author McNeil crosses the pond with this charming tale of a woman who moves to a small English town to take over her grandmothers knitting shop. Jo MacKenzies husband, Nick, was killed in a car accidentjust after telling Jo he was leaving her. Saddled with a second mortgage and two young boys to raise, Jo makes the decision to pack up and move to the seaside town where her grandmother lives. In the hopes of giving her grandmothers knitting shop a fresh feel, Jo renames the shop McKnits and sets up a Stitch & Bitch group for local ladies. She also gets a surprising new client: a pregnant A-list actress. More about Jo and her efforts to build a new life for herself and her sons than about the knitting group, McNeils latest is a bit slowat times, but itnonetheless offers an appealing portrait of a woman starting over.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)