The Florentine Quilt
Chrissie Bellbrae
Don’t miss Chrissie at the BMI on Thursday 18 September at 6pm.
‘Three women connected in time to a medieval quilt and an ancient tale of forbidden love.’
Australian textile conservator, Theodora Harris, is grieving her grandmother’s death when offered an internship to restore a medieval quilt depicting a legend steeped in Celtic folklore. But while the hero Tristan is lauded in the design, his true love, Isolde’s story is missing. As each scene is restored, Theodora’s powerful connection to the quilt brings family secrets to the surface and the threads of long lost love refuse to let her go.
1896: Gifted healer Amelia Treloar should have foreseen the signs after sailing from the wild Cornish coast to join her husband in the Australian mining town of Walhalla.
1875: Florence Trevelyan is exiled from Queen Victoria’s court for following her heart. But she’ll never abandon her search to reclaim the one she left behind.
Each woman pays the price for love— and for her differences. Is the missing scene from the Florentine quilt the key to unlocking more than one woman’s forgotten story?




Our library stands on Wadawurrung Country. Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute acknowledges the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation as the first inhabitants and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we work, learn and create. Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land.