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New York Times best-selling author Marie Bostwick’s Cobbled Court Quilt novels gained her a broad and devoted following with their heartwarming themes of female friendships, family, and quilting.  Now, with the Spring 2019 release of Hope on the Inside, Marie’s trademarks of strong prose, moving friendships, and the power of creativity shine with a particular kind of heartfelt energy. Both poignant and uplifting, this stand-alone novel is at once a moving look at the effects of prison on the lives of its female inhabitants and an inspiring story about a woman searching for purpose and a career much later in life than she ever expected.

“Whatever comes your way, find the happiness in it.” Hope Carpenter received that advice from her mother decades ago. Now, with their four children grown, Hope and her husband, Rick, are suddenly facing an uncertain future after a forced retirement strains both their savings and their marriage. Seeking inspiration and a financial boost, Hope gets a job teaching crafts to inmates at a local women’s prison.

At first, Hope feels foolish and irrelevant, struggling to relate to women whose choices seem so different from her own. But with time, and the encouragement of the prison chaplain, she begins to discover common ground with the inmates in their worries about their children and families, and their fear of having failed those who need them. Just like her, they want to make something of themselves, but believe it might be impossible.

Embarking on an ambitious quilting project, Hope and her students begin to bond. Together, piece by piece, they learn to defy expectations—their own and others’—and to see that it’s never too late to stitch together a life that, even with its imperfections, is both surprising and beautiful.