Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
Drawn by family. Driven by fear. Haunted by fate. Would knowing the future be a gift or a burden? Or even a curse…? The Whitney women of Salem, Massachusetts are renowned for reading the future in the patterns of lace. But the future doesn’t always bring good news – as Towner Whitney knows all too well. When she was just fifteen her gift sent her whole world crashing to pieces. She predicted – and then witnessed – something so horrific that she vowed never to read lace again, and fled her home and family for good. Salem is a place of ghosts for Towner, and she swore she would never return. Yet family is a powerful tie. So it is that fifteen years later, Towner finds herself back in Salem. Her beloved Great Aunt Eva has suddenly disappeared – and when you’ve lived a life like Eva’s, that could mean real trouble. But Salem is wreathed in sickly shadows and whispered half-memories. It’s fast becoming clear that the ghosts of Towner’s fractured past have not been brought fully into the light. And with them comes the threat of terrifying new disaster. A literary page-turner with depth, narrative power and a story that novels like ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ can only dream of, ‘The Lace Reader’ is a bewitching and tightly plotted read.
Is The Lace Reader appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
Parents should know this literary thriller involves a traumatic event witnessed by a teenager, a missing elderly woman, dark family secrets, and psychological tension. The magical realism and gothic atmosphere may be unsettling.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include child harm, death, and trauma (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens who love atmospheric mysteries with supernatural elements and complex family dynamics will be drawn to Towner's reluctant return to her haunted hometown.