An amazing journey through the world of publishing, a debut that turned a self-published story into a massive global success that saw ‘The Lace Reader’ land in bookstores the world over. It’s the story of a wounded woman, a symbol of women readers everywhere, who seeks to understand and interpret the world around her by delving deep inside herself. An extraordinary debut by Brunonia Barry, author of ‘The Lace Reader’ and winner of the 2009 Baccante literary prize.

The book was a runaway sensation from the very beginning. ‘The Lace Reader’ is a richly evocative book guaranteed to sweep the reader along in a headlong rush of events, against the brilliantly-described backdrop of modern-day Salem, Massachussetts and with a fascinating cast of characters, guaranteed to keep readers captivated all the way to the shocking ending.

The debut

September 2007 The first edition of The Lace Reader is self-published. Within the space of only a few days, readers and booksellers are galvanized and buzz explodes around the book. A literary auction is held among top publishing houses for what is termed ‘the debut of the year’.
September 15, 2007 The first print sells out in two weeks.
Mid-October, 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair: Top American publishers go into a bidding frenzy for the book. William Morrow wins the auction, paying two and a half million dollars. Publication rights are sold worldwide. The film rights are sold.
January-March, 2008 William Morrow prepares for the launch of the book. Booksellers and reviewers beg for a copy of the galleys. Ecstatic reviews start to appear.
July 29, 2008 The Lace Reader is published in the United States, with a print run of 200,000 copies.
August 4, 2008 After only one week, The Lace Reader shoots to the top of the best-seller lists of independent booksellers, and is in the top ten of the New York Times bestseller list. A second print run is published.
August 10, 2008 The Lace Reader is Amazon.com’s top seller. The internet is buzzing.
Fall 2008 The Lace Reader is the book independent booksellers love to hand-sell. The book is read in schools everywhere. Reading groups dedicated to the book spring up, and the book tops bestseller lists everywhere.
January 15, 2009 La lettrice bugiarda (The Lace Reader) is published in Italy.



The Book
In Barry's captivating debut, Towner Whitney, a dazed young woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers, has survived numerous traumas and returned to her hometown of Salem, Mass., to recover. Any tranquility in her life is short-lived when her beloved great-aunt Eva drowns under circumstances suggesting foul play. Towner's suspicions are taken with a grain of salt given her history of hallucinatory visions and self-harm. The mystery enmeshes local cop John Rafferty, who had left the pressures of big city police work for a quieter life in Salem and now finds himself falling for the enigmatic Towner as he mourns Eva and delves into the history of the eccentric Whitney clan. Barry excels at capturing the feel of smalltown life, and balances action with close looks at the characters' inner worlds. Her pacing and use of different perspectives show tremendous skill and will keep readers captivated all the way through.



Brunonia Barry
Salem, Massachusetts

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Brunonia Barry studied literature and creative writing at Green Mountain college in Vermont and at the University of New Hampshire and was one of the founding members of the Portland Stage Company. While still an undergraduate at UNH, Barry spent a year living in Dublin and auditing Trinity College classes on James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Barry’s love of theater led to a first job in Chicago where she ran promotional campaigns for Second City, Ivanhoe, and Studebaker theaters. After a brief stint in Manhattan, where she studied screenwriting at NYU, Barry relocated to California because she had landed an agent and had an original script optioned. Working on a variety of projects for several studios, she continued to study screenwriting and story structure with Hollywood icon Robert McKee, becoming one of the nine writers in his Development Group.
Brunonia’s love for writing and storytelling has taken her all across the country but after nearly a decade in Hollywood, Barry returned to Massachusetts where, along with her husband, she co-founded an innovative company that creates award-winning word, visual and logic puzzles. In recent years, she has written books for the Beacon Street Girls, a fictional series for ‘tweens. Happily married, Barry lives with her husband and her only child that just happens to be a 12-year-old Golden Retriever named Byzantium. The Lace Reader is her first original novel.