Villa resident awaits book debut

Cherie Dargan made good use of down time during the pandemic. She has always been a storyteller and decided to bring to life a series of books she’d had in mind for a decade, inspired by a dozen vintage quilts she inherited.  

Each of the four books in “Grandmother’s Treasures” focuses on an antique quilt and American war and is set in a fictional Iowa town called Jubilee Junction.

The first book, “The Gift,” follows the story of Grace Nelson Walters in the 1940s and Grace’s granddaughter, Gracie, in the present day as she receives a large wicker basket from her aunt filled with the California quilt, some aprons, a photo album, scrapbook and a shoebox filled with tapes. “Together, they listen to Grace’s tapes and Gracie, in time, decides to accomplish what her family failed to do 60 years earlier,” Cherie explains. 

“I describe my writing as women’s fiction set in the Midwest with a twist of history, mystery, faith and love,” Cherie shared. She is editing book two, “The Legacy,” and “The Promise” and “The Sacrifice” are in the works. Cherie is also working on a holiday novella, “The Recollection,” which takes place in the Depression era and focuses on a crazy quilt.     

 “Writing is easy, it’s the revision that’s hard,” according to Cherie, who found her villa sunroom the perfect place to research and write. “I don’t think I would have been as productive if I weren’t able to swing around in my chair to see our vegetable garden, trees and flowers. This has become the perfect place for me.” 

Once “The Gift” is released early this summer, The Market in Jorgensen Plaza will host a book signing. If you’d like to follow news of Cherie’s work, find her on Facebook at @CherieDarganAuthor or visit www.cheriedargan.com.

Cherie sits next to her mother's vintage basket, the same as appears in her first book, containing a quilt, scrapbook, aprons, and cassette tapes of stories.