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)

Very good story love the twisty bits

The only thing I didn’t like was the little musical bits between chapters. It’s mildly distracting and pulls you out of the story.

All Frills

An ordinary book sewn together with implausible events and stereotypical characters. There is the misunderstood girl who may or may not be crazy, a gallant police officer who attempts to help, a cult that is after her family, witches who are everyday women, a family mystery, and a conventional ending. Lace reading is a good hook, but Barry doesn't follow through with intersesting predictions. The cult does improbable things and is accused of everything bad except global warming. The surprise at the end is no great shakes, in fact it made the main character, Sophia (Towner), a less reliable narrator.
The best part of The Lace Reader is that it was first self-published then popularized through word of mouth amongst book clubs.

pick this up as your next read.

i love listening to this. the story is well written and well told. The characters are suprisingly relatable given what we know about them and the narrator was amazing. im picking up the sequel asap.

Enjoyable

I loved the historic and local references, and found the main characters engaging. Sadly, a little scattered in the telling, and I found the ending predictable. (I read the book years ago, but had forgotten much of the detail... so enjoyed listening)

LOVE!

I've listened to this and the 5th petal, both books kept me interested and wanting to know more about the already detailed characters! lots of emotion, and a surprise ending!

not what I expected

the ending did not jell, it didn't fit smoothly into the story. I was disappointed.

Undecided

What did you love best about The Lace Reader?

I liked how they wove the pieces together

Would you be willing to try another book from Brunonia Barry? Why or why not?

Maybe, I am still trying to decide if I liked this book or not.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Sometimes her narration was choppy

RELIGION & WITCHCRAFT

Can religion & witchcraft coexist? Is Towner mentally ill? Can any of these women mother children properly?

Maybe/ Maybe Not.

An Unexpected Pleasure

I really enjoyed this book - I could not figure out what would happen next.

Great story, good reading

The ending will blow your mind. At least, I didn't expect it and enjoyed the whole book without more expectations than to have a good story. Turns out that it's more than that, unexpected and strong.
I like how this book is written and I get a good sense of place and time. The characters are memorable and believable. It's tough to put down.