The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

My name is Towner Whitney.  No, that's not exactly true.  My real first name is Sophya.  

Never believe me.  I lie all the time...

- Brunonia Barry, The Lace Reader (2008)

You know the feeling when the first few sentences of a novel get to you that you realize the next chapters are worth reading too?  Well, that's exactly what I felt after going through the first few lines at the start of Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

The Lace Reader tells the story of Towner Whitney who comes from a line of Salem women with the uncanny ability to read the future through patterns in lace.  This is not just, however, her only talent.

After witnessing her twin sister's suicide at the age of 15, she decides to run away from their hometown to escape her memories and hide from her "talents".  Years later, she is living in another state, still trying to put back the shattered pieces of her life when a call from her brother forces her to return home to Salem to help search for their missing Aunt Eva.  Back in her hometown, she, once again, comes face-to-face with her demons and the events from her past (read the full summary here at Amazon.com)

To be honest, while I was reading the book, I couldn't help but be confused and annoyed by the seemingly inconsistent stories of the main protagonist, Towner, and the other characters in her life.  The opening lines of the novel should have been a dead giveaway, but it never dawned to me that this was key to understanding the whole story until I reached the final chapter and finally got the entire picture.

The Lace Reader is a good novel detailing the effects of abuse and its subsequent effects on its victim, focusing mainly on Dissociative disorder.  It provides a good insight on the mind of a person suffering from this condition.