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The Lace Reader
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Product Description
Review
‘An unusual and beguiling literary thriller about a fascinating family of women. The setting of the tight-knit Salem community, still haunted by a heritage of witchcraft and persecution, is marvellously evoked. Enchanting, whimsical and menacing by turns and with a brightly drawn oddball cast it's an exhilarating and ultimately uplifting read.’ Rachel Hore, ‘The Memory Garden’
‘Blithe and creepy in equal measure. [Barry] captures [Salem] evocatively and often wittily. What is real in “The Lace Reader”? What is not?…There are clues planted everywhere.’ New York Times
‘Gripping…a marvellously bizarre cast of characters (living and dead) in a uniquely colorful town.’ Washington Post
‘A gorgeously written literary novel that’s also a doozy of a thriller, capped with a jaw-dropping denouement that will leave even the most careful reader gasping…a major feat.’ Chicago Tribune
‘Set in Salem, Brunonia Barry's “The Lace Reader” is a witty dark story about a family gifted with the art of reading fortunes in lace heirlooms, but whose sinister predictions frighten even themselves.’ Easy Living
Book Description
Drawn by family. Driven by fear. Haunted by fate.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Brunonia Barry's novel is about a family of woman who have a talent for reading lace. The Whitney ladies live in Salem, Massachusetts although they are famous for reading lace not all of them enjoy it due to what they see and would class it more of a curse.
Towner Whitney discovered her talent when she was fifteen; her talent lead her to predict a terrible incident which was so devastating she left both her family and home behind, never wanting to return. Years later her Great Aunt went missing in mysterious circumstance, so her family ties called her back home.
Rafferty is the detective trying to find her Aunt, Towner decided to help him as she want to discover the truth of Eva's disappearance.
The novel I found to be a little slow in places and sometimes felt it was a little too long in length, but saying that I still found the novel to be a compelling read. At times the story gets really creepy and haunts you with its sadness. It's a novel that keeps you guessing till the end, which is great as the novel keeps you interested. :-)
Towner Whitney discovered her talent when she was fifteen; her talent lead her to predict a terrible incident which was so devastating she left both her family and home behind, never wanting to return. Years later her Great Aunt went missing in mysterious circumstance, so her family ties called her back home.
Rafferty is the detective trying to find her Aunt, Towner decided to help him as she want to discover the truth of Eva's disappearance.
The novel I found to be a little slow in places and sometimes felt it was a little too long in length, but saying that I still found the novel to be a compelling read. At times the story gets really creepy and haunts you with its sadness. It's a novel that keeps you guessing till the end, which is great as the novel keeps you interested. :-)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Brunonia Barry's first adult novel, "The Lace Reader", is a generally well-paced and beguiling tale, set in a somewhat fictional version of the author's home town of Salem, Massachusetts. Barry's intimate knowledge of the town and its history has enabled her to blend historical events and the town's present day tourist trappings with a potent fictional element, creating an authoritative-seeming exposition of divination through lace-reading, attitudes to witchcraft, religious cults, traumatic loss, familial abuse, tea-rooms, lobster fishing and many other quotidian aspects of life in small town New England.
The book is, in fact, a quirky mix of many things but it is probably best described as a modern-day Gothic novel; a psychological supernatural thriller cum romance cum mystery tale that is both gripping and enthralling almost throughout. It contains some highly original ideas and is, by and large, exceptionally well executed. There are, however, some things that do not run altogether perfectly. The most glaring misjudgement to my mind are the sudden, unexpected and confusing shifts in the narrative point of view, jumping from a first person perspective in the first half of the book into a detached third-person view point and then back and forth between the two. As a device to shift the perspective (and therefore the interpretation of events) this can often be effective in psychological thrillers, especially as the final denouement approaches. Here no such shift occurs and I for one was left wondering quite why the author had chosen to do things this way. Rather than bring a differing view into focus, the change largely seems only to disturb the flow and makes the book feel to be rambling a little. The denouement, when it arrives, has been largely telegraphed all along -- although well and subtly so, as these things should properly be.
My second gripe is that there are a couple of moments when Brunonia Barry feels to have become carried away with the highly cinematic elements of her story and, as a consequence, has fallen back into Hollywood cliché -- not in the way she writes per se so much as in what she portrays and the way events unfold. I'm perfectly happy to accept these failings as really nothing more than minor lapses, though, and there is nothing that need deter anyone from trying this book; you'll know within a sentence or two whether or not this book is for you.
The book is, in fact, a quirky mix of many things but it is probably best described as a modern-day Gothic novel; a psychological supernatural thriller cum romance cum mystery tale that is both gripping and enthralling almost throughout. It contains some highly original ideas and is, by and large, exceptionally well executed. There are, however, some things that do not run altogether perfectly. The most glaring misjudgement to my mind are the sudden, unexpected and confusing shifts in the narrative point of view, jumping from a first person perspective in the first half of the book into a detached third-person view point and then back and forth between the two. As a device to shift the perspective (and therefore the interpretation of events) this can often be effective in psychological thrillers, especially as the final denouement approaches. Here no such shift occurs and I for one was left wondering quite why the author had chosen to do things this way. Rather than bring a differing view into focus, the change largely seems only to disturb the flow and makes the book feel to be rambling a little. The denouement, when it arrives, has been largely telegraphed all along -- although well and subtly so, as these things should properly be.
My second gripe is that there are a couple of moments when Brunonia Barry feels to have become carried away with the highly cinematic elements of her story and, as a consequence, has fallen back into Hollywood cliché -- not in the way she writes per se so much as in what she portrays and the way events unfold. I'm perfectly happy to accept these failings as really nothing more than minor lapses, though, and there is nothing that need deter anyone from trying this book; you'll know within a sentence or two whether or not this book is for you.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
After learning of her Aunt Eva's death, compulsive liar Towner (Sophya) Whitney returns to her home town in Salem, Massachusetts. Towner previously fled to California after suffering abuse as a child. Once home she begins to reminisce about her sister Lyndley who committed suicide. Intertwined with these themes are a religious cult, a young woman's disappearance and lace reading (a method of reading the future through lace.)
I found the book to be confusing at times as it switched to different points of view, dreams and hallucinations. The ending ensures that all the loose ends are tied up; however it is totally disappointing as it has little relation to the rest of the book as the twists come out of nowhere and I felt there were not enough clues in the rest of the book to make it a viable ending. It also took me a while to finish this book as I wasn't gripped enough to keep picking it back up. The plot and characters just weren't as good as I would have hoped for to support the initially good premise. Still it is a decent read.
I found the book to be confusing at times as it switched to different points of view, dreams and hallucinations. The ending ensures that all the loose ends are tied up; however it is totally disappointing as it has little relation to the rest of the book as the twists come out of nowhere and I felt there were not enough clues in the rest of the book to make it a viable ending. It also took me a while to finish this book as I wasn't gripped enough to keep picking it back up. The plot and characters just weren't as good as I would have hoped for to support the initially good premise. Still it is a decent read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Worthy of completion?
This is a lucidly written and entertaining read that I was not able to finish for reasons entirely of my own making: I took the book in the bath with me and dropped it!! Read more
Published 13 months ago by Andy Millward
A Great Read
The Lace Reader is a great find. It`s a difficult book to put down and has an ending with a great twist.
Published on 13 May 2010 by J. Fitzpatrick
Not what I was expecting...
I was pretty excited to read this book, but it proved to be somewhat of a disappointment for me. I loved the premise of the book, and was all ready to settle down to a gothic... Read more
Published on 9 April 2010 by DaisyChainBookReviews
Review for the unabridged Audiobook
I entierly agree with the reviewer who found this book "enjoyable although a little boring". The first half of the novel was an interesting introduction to the town of Salem with... Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2009 by DubaiReader
Read me.
This book was an enchanting read. You can't help but be drawn into the lives of the characters and to be concerned for their welfare, or if appropriate to hate them. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2009 by Richard Madgin
A Book that Will Stand Reading More than Once
I wish I hadn't read of any of the hype surrounding this book before I started to read it. With no expectation whatsoever, I might have enjoyed it more. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2009 by Roger Rebec
A good read for a lacey day!
As I'm into supernatural thrillers this book excited me. I was disappointed that it took me a few chapters to get into it and that I'd guessed what had happened to one of the... Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by L. Calland
It is worth the time if you give it a try
This is a dreamlike and colourful story set in recent-times Salem. The characters are interesting enough for the most part and the tale is told well enough to maintain a good level... Read more
Published on 9 July 2009 by cbrynr
Enjoyable
I purchased this book after reading many wonderful reviews, expecting a very enjoyable read - and this is what I got. Read more
Published on 22 Jun 2009 by Js Cleaver
Salem Witches
I was attracted to this book because of the setting of Salem, the place of the historically famous witch trials. The book did not disappoint. Read more
Published on 18 Jun 2009 by Steve Trumpet
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