The Persian Pickle Club, the Movie
Volume VII, Issue Two | June 2012
I saw the opening of The Persian Pickle Club film! So what if it was only a minute or two and the movie has yet to be made. The teaser almost made me cry. It captures the feeling of the book, from the Kansas country roads to the parched earth of the Great Depression to the bright quilt flapping on a clothesline. I felt I was no longer on the sideline creating characters in a book but was standing in the dust of our Dallas farm in Harveyville, Kansas, 80 years ago. I could believe I was sitting beside Queenie Bean in the Model A as it bumped along the dirt road. I wanted to reach out and run my hand over the patches of the quilt.
This happened in April, when Bob and I went to a film launch party in Omaha, where producer Christine Fiore lives. The party was in an elegant Stanford White-designed building, and the guests were friends, investors, and professional filmmakers. Scriptwriter Jen Andres attended, along with a host of people who will work on the movie, including the textile artists who are designing the quilts and even the fabrics for them. I’ve never seen so many thin women in black. Waitresses in aprons passed around the kind of food Queenie would have loved—miniature rhubarb pies, for instance.
Movie rights for The Persian Pickle Club have been optioned on and off ever since the book came out more than 15 years ago, but nothing’s ever come of the deals. So I’ve gotten a little jaded. But after seeing Christine’s teaser, I realized that not only is this movie going to be made at last, but that it will honor the book and my characters—and my mom and dad, who inspired The Persian Pickle Club.
If you want to see the teaser, go to www.ThePersianPickleClub.com or The Persian Pickle Club Film on Facebook. I hope you’ll be as touched by it as I am.
True Sisters Makes New York Times
Best Seller List
True Sisters made its debut on the prestigious New York Times best-seller list the week of its debut. This is the second of Sandra’s novels to make the Times’ list. Prayers for Sale was also a New York Times best-seller. The book has drawn rave reviews from a dozen national publications. Click on the following links for reviews:
The Denver Post
Deseret News
Salt Lake Tribune
The Quilt Walk To Be Issued in Fall
The Quilt Walk, my first children’s book, will be published on September 15. Written for girls ages eight to 12, it is based on the title story in The Quilt That Walked to Golden, my history of quilting in Colorado and the Mountain States. I’ll be at Book Expo in New York in June to promote the book. In the fall issue of Piecework, I’ll tell you why I decided to try my hand at writing children’s fiction. It’s not as easy as you think—or as I thought.
Here’s an early review from Kirkus:
THE QUILT WALK
Author: Dallas, Sandra
When 10-year-old Emmy Blue Hatchett’s father announces that the family will be traveling from their home in Illinois to the frontier town of Golden, Colorado, the reaction to the news is as varied as the colors in one of their beloved hand-pieced quilts. It is 1863, and the Colorado Gold Rush is in full swing. Even with the exciting journey in front of them, Emmy and her parents cannot help mourning what they are forced to leave behind: friends, family, pets—and markers in the cemetery for lost loved ones. However, Emmy’s mother is an example of courage and strength, encouraging everyone around her to see life as an adventure and an opportunity to help others. Indian sightings, deadly snakes, a stray dog, new friends and the dreaded quilting hour all keep Emmy busy as they make the long crossing in their overburdened wagons. Period details, engaging characters and clever plot twists will entice even the most discerning fans of historical fiction. Populated with brave and intelligent women, Dallas’ story is as much about Emmy’s journey toward womanhood as their journey toward the West. Solid writing and a close attention to details make this story more than the sum of its parts.
Finely stitched. (Historical fiction. 8-12)
Award Finalist