Love

The Tenth Gift is one of those dual POV books popular now in women's fiction. Julia is dumped by her affair partner and is given a book from 1625 with needlework designs and a handwritten story by the woman who owned it. Catherine was from Cornwall, captured by Barbary pirates, and taken to what is present-day Morocco.
As is usual for me with these types of books, I'm not as interested in the present-day scenario as in the historical events. Cat is fascinating, a servant girl and needlewoman who is literate and tells a fascinating story about her capture and subsequent events. It's a part of history I was unfamiliar with and found very interesting. The Julia sections were quite as good; Julia has been having a long-term affair with her best friend's husband, who gives her the book as a parting gift. He tries to get it back when he discovers that the notations make it quite valuable. None of the characters in the present-day sections came off very well, and it seemed like a lot of drama for no reason but to pad the book.
I still enjoyed the historical story and wish that the entire book was just that. ( )

Durante quince años, Julia ha mantenido una aventura con el marido de su mejor amiga. Ahora, él ha decidido romper definitivamente la relación y, como despedida, le regala un manual de bordados del siglo XVII que perteneció a una mujer llamada Catherine Anne Tregenna. El libro cambiará su vida para siempre.
Julia descubre que Catherine utilizó el manual como diario y, sin darse cuenta, se sumerge por completo en su lectura. Catherine relata cómo fue secuestrada de una iglesia en Cornualles por unos corsarios bereberes y fue vendida como esclava en Marruecos. Cautivada por este hallazgo, Julia decide viajar al norte de África para determinar la autenticidad del libro e investigar la historia de Catherine. A medida que Julia vaya tirando del hilo, las vidas de ambas mujeres se verán misteriosamente interrelacionadas, mucho más allá de lo imaginable.

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I mostly enjoyed this book. When Julia Lovat is dropped by her lover, he gives her a book- The Needlewoman's Glorie- which belonged to a Cornish girl in the 1600's. The Cornish girl is Cat is who is a servant to Lady Harris of Kenegie. Until one Sunday morning in church Cat & sixty others are abducted by Barbary pirates....
The story flows well & is well written, Jane Johnson's characters are very vivid & so is her writing, I could picture events playing out as I was reading them. The only downside to this story is that the ending seems a little too neat. It's a happy ending so yay but it all played out rather quickly without much warning & it just seemed a little made up. Apart from that though it's a pretty good story :O) ( )