“The Lace Reader”

September 24, 2008 at 5:25 pm | Posted in Fiction | 2 Comments

The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry’s debut novel, is a highly unusual book.  It’s a mystery, but not like any other mystery out there.

I admit that I couldn’t get into it at first.  It’s the story of a middle-aged woman who returns to the town where she grew up to resolve some family business.  There are a lot of antiques, and Red Hat Club ladies, and tea drinking.  Oh, great, I thought, I’m reading a grandma book.  But then the mystery started emerging and I started getting more interested in the story.  Then I realized that my predictions about the plot weren’t coming true.  At another point I decided I had the ending figured out, and I sat back at the audacity of it all.  But it turned out I was wrong and it was even weirder than I had expected.

I really don’t want to give away anything about the story.  I’ll just say that if you’ve been curious about The Lace Reader, I don’t think it will disappoint.