The Lace Reader

The Lace Reader is a historical novel by Brunonia Barry. Published in 2006, the book follows a self-confessed unreliable narrator who discovers the truth about her aunt’s disappearance and her sister’s death. The book received mix reviews upon publication, but it did win the 2009 International Women’s Fiction Festival Baccante Award. Barry is the first American author to win this award. She is a bestselling writer who serves as the Executive Director of the Salem Literature Festival, where much of her writing is set.

The main character is a woman called Sophia “Towner” Whitney. She’s descended from a family of Salem witches. The women in her family can all read the future by examining the patterns in lace fabrics. However, Towner’s sister died when Towner read lace for her, and she can’t get over this. She ends up institutionalized because of her unstable mental state, and she’s permanently brain-damaged from electric shock therapy.

After being institutionalized, Towner lives in Southern California for 15 years. She then gets a call from her brother, who she hasn’t heard from in a while. He tells her that Aunt Eva’s missing, and he wants her to come home and help look for her. Eva’s the original “Lace Reader” of the family, and she taught Towner what she knows. Towner’s scared to return home because she’s been estranged from her family for so many years. She wonders if anyone can forgive her for what happened to her sister.



However, she loves her aunt, and she’s got no choice but to go home. When Towner returns to Salem, she immediately senses Eva’s presence in the family home. She wonders, then, what all the fuss is about, and she goes to find her. However, Eva’s not there. This panics Towner, because she shouldn’t be able to sense Eva’s spirit.

The rest of Towner’s family now live on an island called Yellow Dog Island—a fictional place off the coast of Salem. Towner must make her way over there to see everyone and find out what they know about Eva’s disappearance. However, the next day, Eva’s body is found washed up on the shoreline at Salem Harbor.

No one knows who killed Eva, but everyone suspects the same man—Cal Boynton, an enemy of the family. He covets Eva’s home and he’s always threatening the Whitney women. One of the women, Emma, is married to him, and he abuses her. Emma also believes Cal’s capable of murder to get what he wants.



Cal openly despises witches and all supernatural activity. He previously started his own congregation and administered “public exorcisms” on the shoreline. His targets are addicts, mentally disabled people, and other vulnerable people because they’re happy to belong somewhere and join the congregation. He’s always speaking out against the Whitney family, including Eva.

Shortly after Eva’s mysterious death, another young woman goes missing. She’s pregnant, and the baby is Cal’s. The town detective, Detective Rafferty, thinks Cal knows this and killed her because of it. However, they must find the girl first to know for sure. Although Towner loathes her gifts and she’s brain-damaged, she knows facing her past could be the only way to solve these crimes.

Meanwhile, Cal turns his hatred towards Towner. Eva left everything to Towner in her will, including the sprawling mansion she lives in. Cal hopes to intimidate Towner into walking away and letting him take the house. Towner, however, has no such intentions—especially when Eva’s ghost starts following her everywhere.



Towner doesn’t tell anyone about the ghost at first, because she wants to believe it’s just a side-effect of her shock therapy and the trauma of what’s happened. However, she realizes she must tune in to Eva’s ghost and try to decipher her messages if she wants to solve the case. This means turning back to lace reading—a skill she thought she’d left behind forever.

Meanwhile, Towner must spend time with the rest of her family. She visits her mother who shelters abused women and makes sure they always have a home. The Whitney family has a history of moving abused and vulnerable women to safety, and Towner’s mother continues that tradition today—all with the help of Detective Rafferty.

As Cal puts more pressure on Towner and the townsfolk start turning against witchcraft, Towner knows she must solve the mystery before there’s a full-scale witch hunt. As Towner communicates with Eva’s ghost, she discovers a startling truth—she didn’t kill her sister. Her sister died at birth, but Towner’s always felt connected to her. Her friendship with her sister’s ghost helped her deal with traumatic events in her childhood, but her psychotic break 15 years ago stopped her from healing completely.



It turns out that Eva committed suicide so that Towner was forced to return home, confront her issues and move the family forward. Eva knows she can help Towner more in the spirit world than in the living, because Towner wasn’t ever returning home otherwise. Cal, albeit he’s guilty of many other crimes, is cleared of Eva’s murder and must grudgingly accept Towner’s return.