About the Book:
“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 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.”

Book Review: ★★★★★★
This is a book that I have actually picked up, and started no less than ten times. And the strange part is I never got past the first three paragraphs, before putting it down, and moving on to something else. And the crazy part is, once I actually picked it up, and started to read it in earnest — I fell in love with the book!

This book is all about perception. The duality of images, and how the actual image and the interpretation of those images are not always one and the same thing. And while the story is an excellent one, what impressed me the most about the story is not the characters, or the mystery, or the story line itself — all of which are excellent — but it was the use of the story to convey the importance of perception. Even the story itself is not what it appears to be — and if you want an interesting trip through a mind warp, this is the story to do it.

This constant revisiting of the duality of perception is present not only in the story itself, but the symbolism of the characters, the perception of reality and fantasy, memory and fiction, the images seen in the lace — and the images created through the perceptions of life. The bottom line always comes back to it isn’t how you see the images — but it is also in how you interpret them that is important.

And even with all of this to try to pay attention to, the constant duality of people, roles, and images this book also offers an incredible look into not only the history, but the legacy that is Salem. This unique heritage of ultra-conservative religious views, and the stigma of witchcraft that has developed into a living phenomenon gives the reader not only a feel for this unique town, but this entire setting once again reinforces the idea that not everything is as it appears. The town that was once synonymous with heresy and witchcraft has actually become a haven for those that believe in witchcraft today. Once again reinforcing the idea that the ideal and the actual are almost never the same.

This is a hard book to explain, and I know I haven’t given you much about the story, as much as about what I felt was the ultimate goal of the author. However, you will have to forgive me, but even the smallest of explanations of the story line itself would take away the unique understanding that comes through trying to figure out what is actually real, and what is imagined in this book. This is not your run of the mill story with static characters, a predictable plot line, and superficial literary tools to try to keep the reader’s attention. This book is full of depth in the plot, the characters, and the symbolic images that infuse this story with a life of its own.

Simply put, the opening line tells the reader right from the beginning what kind of story you are in for — and the main character means exactly what she says, right from the get go. “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.”

This book is an excellent read — and one that I highly recommend! A must read that you won’t want to miss. For more information about this book, and its author, be sure to visit the following websites:

The Lace Reader Website

Brunonia Barry’s Blog

Brunonia Barry’s Website

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