As Roseanna stitches the title quilt, she morbidly records the interwoven fates of the two families, and Fanny, watching her, gradually realizes that her sister courted destruction and ''dragged so many of us with her.'' Through homespun language, folk remedies, superstition and a vivid picture of a vengeful religion (e.g., Mama McCoy constantly shifts the pebbles of those in her prayers between the saved and damned piles), Rinaldi skillfully paints the code of honor of Kentucky and West Virginia mountain families. Setting 2 This story would be very different if it took place in a different geographical place. And I can say this, because I loved her best of all.'' Roseanna McCoy, ''so purty that just being next to her is better than a piece of rock candy,'' ran off with Johnse Hatfield and ignited the tinder box of residual hatred still smoldering from ''The War Amongst Us'' (the Civil War). The Coffin Quilt By Ann Rinaldi Characters: Characters Plot Exposition- While at a hanging Fanny describes the feud and introduces a majority of the characters. This colorful novel, an addition to the Great Episodes series, begins in 1889, when Fanny is 16, at a hanging, and flashes back to 1880 to describe the evolution of the quarrel Fanny claims would never have started ''if not for my sister Roseanna.

She wrote over 40 novels, eight of which were notable books by the ALA. Fanny McCoy, the protagonist and narrator of Rinaldi's (A Break with Charity An Acquaintance with Darkness) tautly plotted historical novel about the infamous feuding families effectively portrays the clans' divided loyalties and cycle of violence. Ann Rinaldi was a young adult, historical, literature, and fiction author popularly known for her historical fiction books The Last Silk Dress, In My Father’s House, A Break with Charity, and Acquaintance with Darkness.

The Coffin Quilt by Ann Rinaldi