LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
February 2010 Debut of the Month.
With any novel set in Salem, Massachusetts, you sort of know it is going to be haunted with the legacy of witchcraft and this one uses that knowledge with great skill. Uncertain of what is real and what is not, peopled with wonderful characters (living and dead) and carrying an air of excitement through to its cracking denouement, this is great stuff.
Comparison: Audrey Niffenegger, Diane Setterfield, Will Davenport.
Sarah Broadhurst
Find This Book In
About
The Lace Reader Synopsis
Drawn by family. Driven by fear. Haunted by fate. Would knowing the future be a gift or a burden? Or even a curse!? The Whitney women of Salem, Massachusetts are renowned for reading the future in the patterns of lace. But the future doesn't always bring good news -- as Towner Whitney knows all too well. When she was just fifteen her gift sent her whole world crashing to pieces. She predicted -- and then witnessed -- something so horrific that she vowed never to read lace again, and fled her home and family for good. Salem is a place of ghosts for Towner, and she swore she would never return. Yet family is a powerful tie. So it is that fifteen years later, Towner finds herself back in Salem. Her beloved Great Aunt Eva has suddenly disappeared -- and when you've lived a life like Eva's, that could mean real trouble. But Salem is wreathed in sickly shadows and whispered half-memories. It's fast becoming clear that the ghosts of Towner's fractured past have not been brought fully into the light. And with them comes the threat of terrifying new disaster. A literary page-turner with depth, narrative power and a story that novels like 'The Thirteenth Tale' can only dream of, 'The Lace Reader' is a bewitching and tightly plotted read.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780007345823 |
| Publication date: |
3rd December 2009 |
| Author: |
Brunonia Barry |
| Publisher: |
HarperPress an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Primary Genre |
Family Drama
|
| Other Genres: |
|
| Recommendations: |
|
Press Reviews
Brunonia Barry Press Reviews
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
Author
About Brunonia Barry
Brunonia Barry studied screenwriting at New York University and relocated to California when an option was taken on one of her scripts. Working on a variety of projects for several studios, she continued to study screenwriting and story structure with Hollywood icon Robert McKee, becoming one of the nine writers in his Development Group. After nearly a decade in Hollywood, Barry returned to Massachusetts, where she started a company with her husband, creating award-winning word, visual and logic puzzles. Happily married, Barry lives with her husband and her 'only child', who just happens to be a twelve-year-old Golden Retriever named Byzantium. 'The Lace Reader' is her first novel.
More About Brunonia Barry
