Patchwork a Serialized Novel

1937    Sugar ignored the knocking and pulled the covers tighter. Tears dripped down her cheek. “God, why must I…

1980    Leaning gently on the lace tablecloth, Sugar’s graceful hand rattled the spoon rhythmically against the eggshell porcelain cup…

2013    The three of us walked into the large common room on the fourth floor of the Blue Goose,…

1896  “There’s nothing we can do – she’s gone,” the midwife said, shaking her head, patting Suzan’s shoulder as Phinizy…

1991    “David, it’s Jake. I’m calling again, about …”    “Hi Jake, I remember,” David said in his animated…

 1920    Sugar leaned over the ship’s rail, marveling at the swirling yellow and blue colors in the sea below.…

 1981    Jake awoke, wiping the layer of sweat off his forehead. He thought the ringing was only in his…

 1936    Sugar awoke when the sun rose above the flowering Chinese plum trees – as she had each day…

 1897    Each time Suzan tried to nurse her daughter, Sugar would only take a little milk in her mouth…

2013      “Why am I telling you about problems with my first husband?” Emma Kate said. “I’ve never even met…

1944    Sugar tried keeping the children’s attention on the makeshift classroom’s wood-planked wall, on which she had crudely scratched…

1936    Sugar knew something wasn’t right with her first pregnancy. She loved being in China, but hated being so…

1981    “I don’t want this book to be about my life in the Japanese internment camp in China,” Sugar…

1902    Sugar could tell when her parents were about to begin an argument. She hated those moments more than…

1913    When Sugar walked into Sunday School, her eyes immediately focused on the serious Chinese girl seated in the…

1980    Jake looked up at the courthouse lobby directory, eventually settling on Judge Bacheller Flythe, one of the many…

1945    “The Japanese guarding our concentration camp knew the war was over,” Sugar recalled as she gazed off beyond…

1943     After nearly two years of imprisonment in the Anqing internment camp, Sugar noticed her legs began to atrophy…

1980    “I’ll bring extra copies of your newspaper article on my way home tonight,” Jake told Sugar. Then he…

1936     Sugar spent the long summer night crying in her bed, knowing something was wrong with her baby.  She…

1931     Sugar tried to stay focused on teaching the Chinese students in her class, but her mind kept drifting…

1921     As Sugar explored the winding streets of her new Anqing home that all seemed to lead to the…

1904     Sugar felt the storm coming. It was late. Her daddy was out, again. Earlier, Grace made Suzan a…

1941    From her front door, Sugar watched the Japanese loading children onto the boats all day in Old Anqing…

1980     “One thing I learned about the Chinese,” Sugar said, gently placing the porcelain coffee cup in its gold-rimmed…

1981 Jake cut short his phone interview as the large newsroom clock ticked towards noon. He ran past the cluttered…

1936 Sugar looked at the tattered edges of her patchwork quilt. Grace had sewn it from fragments of shirts and…

2013 “Hi, my name is Jake and I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could ask…

1937    Through her bedroom window on the edge of the diplomatic quarter, high on the hill above downtown, Sugar…

1945    “Momma, why is he wearing a sign?” David asked as they waited in the freezing cold rain.   …