What Readers Say
"You have written a great novel. The Lace Reader has, both naturally, and by force of effort, what most other writers wish their books had: a strong narrator, passion, momentum, ambiance, style, rooting interest, an unsettling mood that wants to be settled. I'm honored to have been one of the early readers."
Andrew Postman
Author, Now I Know Everything, Crown
"I've just reached "the end" of The Lace Reader-- it's been a tremendous experience. It's a real page turner ....a bit wrenching, emotionally, but a terrific book! It hangs together really well. Congratulations!"
Laura Vogel
Writer, Editor Elle Magazine
"I just finished The Lace Reader, doing something I haven't done in a LONG time, which is, actually staying awake long enough to finish a whole book at one time. It is an absolutely amazing novel. Thank you so much for letting me read it."
Marcia Goodstein
President, idealab! Pasadena, CA
"The Lace Reader is a real page turner. It's like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil meets the Ya Ya's meets Garp. The dialogue is great. This will make a great movie as well as a novel."
JoAnn Bailey
Manager, Children's MercantileToys
Fort Collins, Colorado
"The Lace Reader takes place in a world I do not know, but find strangely familiar, has characters that are unique and new, but I swear I've met before. This tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar fascinates me and keeps me wanting to find out more. The sense of colliding worlds, old and new, real and imaginary, propels the story. I keep wondering who (or what) will win out in the end or if winning is really the point. I am drawn like a moth to flame reading the wonderful descriptions of Salem and Marblehead and the women making lace. I want to be there on the island with these women. I want to learn to make lace, and to read it."
Susan Marchand
Executive Director of Program Marketing and Distribution
PBS Thirteen/WNET
"The Lace Reader is a wonderful book with great characters. The ending of the book was a big (and good) surprise. The dialogue is so clever. In the midst of a very intense story, you can actually laugh. I am reminded of a quote by Einstein. "The fundamental question is whether you think the universe is or is not a friendly place." That kind of sums up the whole book. It's a decision the reader has to make for herself."
Dorothy Dennesen
Retired Health Care worker
"I felt like, I was reading something I had written myself but for the first time. I identified with Towner so much that I felt like the writer was reading my own thoughts. I sometimes knew what was coming next ...but I was still surprised by it. It was like deja vu. I've never read fiction that felt so real and familiar. I want to read The Lace Reader with my mother and sisters. I want to buy a thousand copies and give it to all my friends."
Emily Bradford
College Student
"The Lace Reader evoked intense feelings. It was like I was living through Towner's experiences and, as her perspectives changed, so did my outlook on life. It was a transcendent experience. I can't wait for this book to come out. I want to buy it for people-- lots of people."
Whitney Clark
Landscape Gardener
"I am going to send a copy of The Lace Reader to my mother in Africa. I love this book."
Nulah Nabukeera
Registered Nurse
"I want my book club to read The Lace Reader. I need to discuss it with people. I haven't made up my mind whether Towner is crazy, an incredible survivor, clairvoyant, or all of the above. She might be crazy, or she might just be the sanest person I've ever met."
Janet Wintman
Wife and Mother
"The Lace Reader captures you from the first page, then lives with you well after you've closed the book for the last time. This a book for those who enjoy the enduring grasp of characters and a twist that will fool even the cleverest of readers."
Jacqueline Franklin
Founder and CEO, Routes to Market
"The Lace Reader pulled me right in because it is peopled with strong characters seeking resolution of issues of love, abandonment, and trust. The relationships between the characters are as delicate and complex as the patterns of lace that serve as the story's principal metaphor. Towner Whitney is a woman I at first didn't understand, then came to love, and ended up cheering for. Eva and May are also thoughtfully brought to life as compelling combinations of tragic frailties and unwavering love. The demonic Cal is a dark shadow on every page. The presentation of Salem as a setting for this story was artful, chiefly through the careful use of detail that was both colorful and restrained. I was able to see the characters in the context of place and feel how they were shaped by that place's particular history. Yet I did not lose either them or the story line to a predictable interpretation of location. And as for predictability -- I was kept guessing right up to the end! A book I would heartily recommend to my book group."
Ginni Spenser
Writer
"The Lace Reader is going to be a bestseller. I loved it!"
Brenda Luszcz
Office Manager
