''The Lace Reader'' (2006) is a novel by Brunonia Barry. The novel is set in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

, the American town famous for the

Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

. A crucial plot device is the Ipswich lace that the protagonist's family would make. The novel came to be well known for its unusual route to mainstream publishing. Originally

self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...

by the author it became a local success story, got rave reviews in many places including ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', and was eventually picked up by the US branch of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

in a multimillion-dollar deal. It soon became a New York Times bestseller and is currently under option for a film. Rumoured casting includes

Rachel McAdams Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...

as the lead character, Towner Whitney. When asked about her inspiration for the book, Barry said, as reported on her blog:

For quite some time, I have been fascinated by the Hero’s Journey or the monomyth. Most stories that follow this pattern have a decidedly male orientation: a lone individual acts heroically and saves the day. I wondered if there might be an alternate form, a feminine Hero’s Journey. So I began to look at stories that featured female protagonists to see if they offered something different. What I found surprised me. Most of these women were either killed off or were ultimately rescued from their plight by male heros. Unsatisfied, I wondered if I could write a Hero’s Journey for women where the strong but wounded heroine must find a way to save herself.Barry, Brunonia.
Inspiration for The Lace Reader
June 19, 2008. Retrieved 07/21//10.

References

External links

The Lace Reader
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lace Reader, The 2009 American novels Novels set in Massachusetts Salem, Massachusetts HarperCollins books American fantasy novels 2009 debut novels Fiction about twins Fiction set in 1996