“Elmore, in vivid portrayals of extraordinary Black women born shortly before and after the Civil War, pays dazzling tribute to the storytellers, quilters, and healers in her family. This book doesn’t stop at examining racism and sexism; it also paints accounts of strength and pride in an exquisite big picture of history and its relation to the present.”

— Library Journal’s Best Books of 2022

“Phyllis Biffle Elmore’s Quilt of Souls is a classic five-star memoir that you won’t regret picking up. It is a stellar tale of a girl brought up lovingly by her grandmother. Along the way, she learns the biases against people of her skin, and how her grandmother surfaced through them, as a strong woman. Now Phyllis passes on this tale to you to be nurtured.”

— Madeeha
Book Nerdection

This moving memoir tells the stories of people, culture, racism, sexism, and other social and historical issues; it does this creatively and is memorable. The power and heart that come through the pages make this story stand out. You will feel a connection with the people Lula honors in the quilt, just as young Phyllis eventually does. Lula is the catalyst through which we learn life lessons and African-American traditions and history that we can carry with us and even pass on to others.

–Tammy Ruggles
Readers' Favorite

“Like the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, who create masterpieces from cast-off fabrics, Phyllis Biffle-Elmore in Quilt of Souls: A Memoir uses snippets of history and fragments of memories to craft a narrative that is a powerful and poignant read.”

— Jessica B. Harris
New York Times Bestselling author of High on the Hog

“A fascinating read that unravels exactly how us storytellers are born and made with the goal and purpose of retelling family history, culture, loves, losses, victories and tragedies of memorable people from the cradle to the grave. So, you take a young, scared city girl from Detroit, Michigan, and you drive her down to the country of Alabama farmland to be raised for nine years by her maternal grandmother, who sews historical and emotional quilts for the people of her Sumter County community to remember those who have passed on, not with just pictures and memories, but with their favorite clothes stitched together with the history and garments of others. Then you tell this young Detroit girl each and every story about these people; black women, black men, white women, white men, all Americans, fighting scratching and clawing to survive and strive in this thing called life, until this little girl memorizes their stories and how to retell them, while understanding and interpreting the people that those stories were created from—in real life—so that she can explain it all to the next generation until infinity. This is what great storytelling is all about in any culture. We don’t just make things up. We connect humans to other humans so that we can all understand each other. So, I repeat ... this book about humans and storytelling is a fascinating read from beginning to end. And the quilts become a symbol of those people... and their stories.”

— Omar Tyree
New York Times Bestselling Author and NAACP Image Award Winner

"Quilt of Souls reminds me of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. The moving tales of hardship, kindness and the unconditional love of family and neighbor can’t help but touch the reader's heart in Biffle-Elmore’s memories of life with her extraordinary grandmother. I can’t wait to recommend Quilt of Souls to my own book club."

— Diane Chamberlain
New York Times Bestselling author of The Silent Sister and The Last House on the Street

Elmore's memoir of a childhood interrupted is profoundly moving, shedding light on a quintessentially American experience that is often overlooked. Sent from Detroit in the 1950s to live with her Grandma Lula Horn in rural Alabama, the little girl is nourished by the stories of family members who endeavored to survive the brutalities of the Jim Crow era. In the process of teaching her granddaughter how to honor the lives of their kith and kin in the patchwork quilts she crafts, Lula stitches Phyllistene's shattered spirit back together and helps her to forge an identity shaped by the redemptive power of forgiveness.

— Susan Rivers
Award-winning author of The Second Mrs. Hockaday