The Lace Reader
Encyclopedia
The Lace Reader is a novel
by Brunonia Barry. The novel is set in Salem, Massachusetts
, the American town famous for the Salem witch trials
.
The novel came to be well known for its unusual route to mainstream publishing
. Originally self-published by the author it became a local success story, got rave reviews in many places including Publisher's Weekly, and was eventually picked up by the US branch of HarperCollins
in a multi-million dollar
deal.
It soon became a New York Times bestseller and is currently under option for a film. Rumoured casting includes Rachel McAdams
as the lead character, Towner Whitney.
When asked about her inspiration for the book, Barry said, as reported on her blog:
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Brunonia Barry. The novel is set in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
, the American town famous for the Salem witch trials
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
.
The novel came to be well known for its unusual route to mainstream publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
. Originally self-published by the author it became a local success story, got rave reviews in many places including Publisher's Weekly, and was eventually picked up by the US branch of HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in a multi-million dollar
deal.
It soon became a New York Times bestseller and is currently under option for a film. Rumoured casting includes Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre program at York University, Toronto in 2001, she worked steadily as an actress until finding fame in 2004 with starring roles in teen comedy Mean Girls and romantic drama The Notebook...
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.