The Lace Reader

By: Brunonia Barry

Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan

Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Every gift has a price...

Every piece of lace has a secret...

"My name is Towner Whitney. No, that's not exactly true. My real first name is Sophya. Never believe me. I lie all the time...."

Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator of The Lace Reader, hails from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace and who have guarded a history of secrets going back generations. But the disappearance of two women brings Towner home to Salem and the truth about the death of her twin sister to light.

The Lace Reader is a mesmerizing tale that spirals into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths, in which the reader quickly finds it's nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction. But as Towner Whitney points out early on in the novel, "There are no accidents."

©2006 Brunonia Barry (P)2008 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Barry excels at capturing the feel of smalltown life, and balances action with close looks at the characters' inner worlds. Her pacing and use of different perspectives show tremendous skill and will keep readers captivated all the way through." ( Publishers Weekly)

Repetitive but rewarding

If you can navigate the irritating quotes from the "Lace Readers Guide" without purposely running your boat into the rocks, just to end it all, and get to the final chapters, you will be well rewarded and want to read this book again.

I listened all night

I enjoyed this story and the characters. It kept me intrigued enough to listen to the entire book in one sitting.

Wonderful New England stuff here

The Lace Reader I found to be a wonderful book.
Sophya Whitney as a character was true to her word.I never tell the truth, and Im crazy.
Well Im not so sure about that..Interweaving the New England coastal towns and
Especially Salem, is clearly an inside look we dont normally see, unless you live there.
If you love stories about New England this is a must read.
Brunonia has captured the weaving of the Lace of life in Salem, then and now.
The narrator Alyssa Bresnahan does a fabulous job with the characters, the pace, and the intensity of the telling of it. The opportunity to be transported into another time, and be in the present at the same time is enchanting. I was sorry to have it end.

The Final Narrative Threads Pulled it All Together

The beginning was slow going, but the end of this story pulled the narrative together like the final most essential threads of a work of lace.

Cliff Dive

Decent caracters that could have been more fully developed and a really compelling story line made this an enjoyable book. However, the ending was so abrupt it left me wondering if the writer just lost the steam to come up with a better ending. The caracters had more courage than the writer.

happy guitar riffs in the middle of murder?

The story is strange, could be good, but periodic happy little guitar riffs between chapters ruin the story's continuity.

A Twist of Lace

I'm not sure how to review this book. It was a ride - sometimes confusing and bumpy. At other times it was mezmerising. I loved the characters. Each had unique but complex personalities.

The book begins with Towner Whitney stating that she is crazy and that she lies. She returns to Salem when she learns that her great aunt is missing. In no time, she is immersed in the confusing family dynamics that surrounded her as a child.

To me, the story is about perceptions, from the lace readings the Whitney women did to the observations of the local detective. Most of all, it centered around Towner's perceptions of her past and of the present. Interestingly enough, whenever the story was told from Towner's point of view, it was told in present tense. Whenever the story was from another character's point of view, it was in past tense. This created a sense of things being off kilter and increased the tension in the story.

The ending has a surprising, even shocking, twist. I have no doubt this story will haunt me for a long time to come.

Just Okay....

What did you like best about The Lace Reader? What did you like least?

I didn't know that lace reading existed but this book prompted to me to explore more about it all.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The reader for this book did not endear me to the story. There was much of "he said" and "she said". I don't know if the book actually is read verbatim or if this was interjected but those kinds of verbal declarations take away from a book. I would presume that most people listening are not between the ages of 5-10years of age. That kind of dialect just becomes over bearing, hearing it so much. Again, not sure if this was written by the author or not but I find that it takes away from the quality of the book. For that reason, I give this a lower rating. Also, for this character to be in her early 30's, the reader sounds much older so it didn't "fit" from the start - another detriment to the book. So a different reader would may have been been better suited for this particular title.

Would you be willing to try another one of Alyssa Bresnahan’s performances?

Not at this time.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

?? Not sure.

A Bit of a Surprise

I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy this one. The book has gotten so much hype, and I often find that overhyped books tend to disappoint. It also sounded a bit like hocus-pocus chick lit (e.g., Ya-Ya Sisterhood), but, thankfully, that description didn't fit at all. It's a tough one to place in terms of genre: part historical fiction, part mystery/suspense, part romance, part psychological study. And yet all those threads are knit together in a very engaging plot. Barry also cleverly turns place into character as the town, the island, and the surrounding area gain significance to the story and the narrator. The reader was a good choice, too.

Brillant, both writing and reading.

What made the experience of listening to The Lace Reader the most enjoyable?

The voice was perfect, it moved with the action well.

What did you like best about this story?

The ending, the twist, everything.

Which character ??? as performed by Alyssa Bresnahan ??? was your favorite?

The protagonist.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending.