15. The Lace Reader

By: Brunonia Barry
Rated 4 stars
From: Library
AUDIO BOOK


Tis is not a book I would have picked up on my own but I'm glad I did. It was a good, if puzzling read. Kathleen and Justine, a couple of long time DDers asked me if I had read this book because they had a question. Well, now that I have read the book I have the same question. I have a wild guess but I'm not sure if its right.


A friend on anorher list wrote this: "There were many times that I wanted to put this book down, the middle bogs down with such boring repetitiveness I was beginning to wonder what the author was thinking. Then the last 100 or so pages hits you with such force you can’t get through the book fast enough. Great story with a stunning conclusion that has you spinning and thinking back to the clues that you missed.
For me this book wouldn't have worked as an audio. The ending is confusing and you have to go back and reread parts to make sure you are on track."


I agree with her completely.

Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Brunonia Barry dreamt she saw a prophecy in a piece of lace, a vision so potent she spun it into a novel. The Lace Reader retains the strange magic of a vivid dream, though Barry's portrayal of modern-day Salem, Massachusetts--with its fascinating cast of eccentrics--is reportedly spot-on. Some of its stranger residents include generations of Whitney women, with a gift for seeing the future in the lace they make. Towner Whitney, back to Salem from self-imposed exile on the West Coast, has plans for recuperation that evaporate with her great-aunt Eva's mysterious drowning. Fighting fear from a traumatic adolescence she can barely remember, Towner digs in for answers. But questions compound with the disappearance of a young woman under the thrall of a local fire-and-brimstone preacher, whose history of violence against Whitney women makes the situation personal for Towner. Her role in cop John Rafferty's investigation sparks a tentative romance. And as they scramble to avert disaster, the past that had slipped through the gaps in Towner's memory explodes into the present with a violence that capsizes her concept of truth. Readers will look back at the story in a new light, picking out the clues in this complex, lovely piece of work. --Mari Malcolm --This text refers to theHardcover edition.