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)

Wonderful book I must hear again

Does a wonderful job of taking the listener straight to coastal Massachusetts and into the narrator's head. The flow of the narrative itself is enjoyable and the ending has me itching to hear it all over again.

Eccentric New England Ladies

This is a lovely character study of well funded eccentricities. It's a fascinating look at psychic readers. And ( spoiler alert) a rather bad use of multiple personalities as a plot device. I loved the story and the characters, only to be quite disgusted with the cheap ending. It still was worth the read.

interesting story, not as good as a performance.

While the story has a lot of captivating qualities and the characters are well defined, I found the narration somewhat stilted and overly dramatic. Too many pauses where there didn't need to be any and a lack of fluctuation in tone to distinguish one mood from another or one character from another. Still the character development of the author came through and I enjoyed the story for the most part.

Lace reader

Wish the author had gone into more depth on the history of the characters slightly confusing on which characters or alive or dead during the story.

Wonderful!

I just loved this book. It was so different and creative. I like soup, do you like soup?

Need a second listen

Not sure what I think. The narrator states right away that she can't be believed. I don't want to do a spoiler but I really need a second listen to track properly now that I understand the plot.

Read through number two. I liked the book more. It was fun to look for all the hints and foreshadowing.
Although I do not think I could construct an accurate timeline even now, I feel I actually understand the narrator character now.

Good book needs an Editor

Barry has created an interesting scenario, interesting characters and a most interesting setting. But the book feels repetitive and too long. A good editor is a great blessing!

No two people can read a piece of lace the same

I started out reading the book and, before the end of the first chapter, switched to audible. I enjoyed hearing the narrator as Towner Whitney tell her story.

Towner, a self-proclaimed unreliable witness, comes back home after her brother calls to let her know their grandmother is missing. Home is modern day Salem, Mass at the height of the tourist season with modern day witches selling herbs in shops along Main Street. As she wanders through her grandmother’s house we learn about her grandmother, a lace reader who gives lace reading and has a tea room and whom Towner lived with when she was a teenager. Towner’s mother lives on an island visible from grandmother’s house. Towner’s twin sister is dead now, and Towner feels responsible. Then there are the Calvinists, a cult led by a man namer Calvin,

A short distance into the story I’d forgotten Towner was an unreliable witness. I was surprised by the ending. Listen to the story as it unfolds and refolds.

Great, but be aware has domestic violence

Any additional comments?

Not sure if I can explain The Lace Reader - it is like it heads off to the Twilight Zone and suddenly there are skirmishes between Witches and "Calvinists" and then there's the Cal Boynton character - an over the top fire and brimstone preacher - he is such a strange character to put in the middle of a modern day novel, but somehow this all works.
Let me try again.... In the book, a woman returns to her hometown of Salem MA after a long absence because of the disappearance of an elderly relative. Once there she becomes involved in some local conflicts (enter witches and Calvinists) and another disappearance. She has a history of psychiatric treatment. Unlike many review I read, I do not object to the switching of time and perspective from section to section and we jump about from past to present, and character to character. And only one time did it kinda of bug me because it happened right in the middle of a scene that you want to know what happens in, but that isn't really a flaw since I just was eager to find out what happened. I would object to switching away to anything right as some bleeding person calls 911. But we didn't stay away too long and we got some answers (or did we?) while we went away from that storyline. I was confused at first by the references to witches, but really they what I'd call Wicca-witches.
The reader was really great. She sounded like a somewhat mentally unstable person - perfect to play our main character Towner Whitney, former psych hospital resident. I read that although the main location, Yellow Dog Island, is fictitious that most of the Salem MA details are indeed accurate.
Once I was done listening I REALLY wanted a paper copy to go back and look at things after a couple big twists at the end. As some reviews remind us, the book begins when the narrator says her name is Towner Whitney, then says actually her real name is Sophya, never believe her she lies all time. However, as you follow things from Towner's perspective it is easy to forget this. You have little reason to question most of her statements most of the time and it is only later twists for the most part that cause you to do so. A number of people really loved this book. It was apparently originally self-published then picked up due to positive word of mouth. I very much liked this book - part love story, part mystery, part psychological thriller, with a dash of historical fiction and a hint of gothic novel and a touch of paranormal. There's even a tea recipe - so hey you've got a cookbook too! Note though there are themes of strong domestic violence in the book which some might find too unpleasant.
It seems a lot of people who disliked this book did so for a reason that really bugs me. Like anything with any sort of twist in it, reviewers compare the book to the movie The Sixth Sense. Nothing has benefited from this comparison, even the poor guy who made that movie likely regrets making his best movie first because most of the criticism for the others is that they aren't The Sixth Sense. So let's all get over it - just because something has a twist of some sort doesn't mean you should compare it to The Sixth Sense. That had an awesome twist, ok fine! Does that mean no other twist can or should exist unless it is equally awesome?
Similarly, one of the most common criticisms I have seen, of this and other books, stems from people giving it 5 star reviews. People can't just read and make a decision. They raise the expectations so ridiculously high if some people have loved a book. I think some people just thrive on being disappointed - they’d probably be disappointed not to get the opportunity to be disappointed in a book a lot of people love. When are people going to understand that hype is just hype? You shouldn't let the hype decide whether you will like a book or not. There. Got that out of my system.

A good read

This was a lovely book, if a bit dark. It certainly kept me entertained and wondering where it would go next.