Tracy Chevalier Is Threading the Past

Then, Chevalier says, she became acquainted with some of the less-well-known details of the building: "I saw a display about cushions and kneelers made by a group of embroiderers in the 1930s. Something about the group caught my imagination: they were making beautiful objects that would be there for hundreds of years but weren't flashy like stained glass or carvings or floor tiles. They were cushions you actually use, and they bring comfort. I thought, ‘What would it be like to be in a group like that?' "