
Source: Review copy from Sourcebooks
Rating: ★★★★☆
She didn’t understand how quickly a life can fray. How a single thread come undone can cause the unraveling of everything else around it.
But that was not the worst of the dream. The worst of it was this: I woke wanting the same thing I had wanted back then. I woke wanting Maman. I woke wanting to touch that lace. And I knew if I had to do it all over again, I would do the very same thing. The worst was knowing I could not have done anything other than what I did.
(from The Ruins of Lace)
Lace is beautiful and intricate, and when King Louis XIII of France banned foreign and domestic lace in 1636, it became highly prized and dangerous. In The Ruins of Lace, Iris Anthony focuses on the brutal conditions under which lace was created, how it was smuggled from Flanders to France, and how greed for lace padded the pockets of some and led to the downfall of others.
Set in France and Flanders in 1636, The Ruins of Lace is told from the alternating viewpoints of seven distinct narrators: Katharina Martens, a lace maker in a Flemish convent who has gone blind from more than two decades of working in the dark and will be cast out if she can no longer produce lace; her sister, Heilwich Martens, who has worked long and hard to save enough money to buy Katharina’s freedom and will do anything to prevent her being thrown out of the convent and forced into prostitution; Denis Boulanger, a soldier whose very life might depend on being able to spot the lace smugglers crossing the border from Flanders; a dog used to smuggle lace over the French border; Lizette Lefort, whose desire to touch beautiful lace cuffs caused her family to lose everything and whose guilt caused her to withdraw from life; the Count of Montreau, who cares about nothing but securing his title and enough money to cover his excesses; and Alexandre Lefort, a young man sent on an impossible journey to obtain the lace that will save the woman he loves.
I was pulled into the novel from the very first page because I couldn’t believe that lace was ever banned and that something so delicate had the power to destroy lives. Anthony is a talented storyteller whose beautiful writing brings a little known part of history to life. She does a superb job juggling so many characters, and structuring the novel so that the narrators change every chapter and cycle through in the same order makes it easy to keep track of the different voices.
Despite the myriad narrators, The Ruins of Lace boils down to just two stories — Katharina’s and Lizette’s — and the other characters are just vehicles to bring about the resolution. From the beginning, it’s obvious how their stories will be connected, but the journey is what counts. Anthony appears to have done her homework in detailing the heartbreaking conditions under which Katharina works, not knowing when she will have outlived her usefulness and be tossed aside without a penny to her name. The lace even becomes a character whose presence is felt during every tense moment of the smuggling scenes. And though I wasn’t crazy about the dog’s narration, it’s sad to think about the 40,000 dogs killed over 15 years as they tried to move lace into France and the constant abuse they endured as they were trained to do so.
The Ruins of Lace was heavier than I expected for a book about lace, but I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a day. Although the ending felt a big rushed and certain plot elements felt contrived, it’s a decent novel that should be read for the intriguing characters and the fascinating history behind the story.
Disclosure: I received The Ruins of Lace from Sourcebooks for review.
© 2012 Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reproduce or republish content without permission.
This one seems to be striking a chord with everyone.
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It’s fascinating!
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I can’t imagine banning lace! This must have been engrossing since you finished it in a day. I’m adding it to my wish list.
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It definitely was a page-turner!
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What a great review! I’ve read several and yours really captured the essence of the story.
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Thanks, Laura!
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Ooo, I really want to read this book!
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I think you’d enjoy it!
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This does sound rather heavy which is not at all what I expected from looking at the title but the cover does hint at some darkness, doesn’t it? Sounds interesting but I hate a rushed ending.
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I was able to forgive the ending overall since I found the story so fascinating. It really was heavier than I’d expected.
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v nice review — I’ve heard mixed things about this one — I’m super curious because I never knew lace had such loaded history!
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I was surprised myself. I seriously learn something new every time I read a hist fic novel!
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This sounds great. I had no idea lace had such a history behind it.
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It really was a fascinating story.
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I’ve read another book, “The Lace Reader” and loved the whole story and history behind lace reading. This book also drew my attention and has been in my TBR list for some time. However, after reading this review, I am going to push it up to the front. Great review!
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Thanks! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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That many dogs killed? Crazy!
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Insane, huh?!?
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This is a new to me author and it sounds terrific. I’ve read other books about lace making and really enjoyed them
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I hope you get a chance to read it!
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What an interesting piece of history I knew nothing about. Definitely going to have to keep my eye out for this one; sounds like a great blend of fact and fiction.
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I couldn’t put it down!
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How very interesting. I had no idea lace had been banned. I think I’ll have a problem with the dog part.
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It is a very sad part of the book.
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This is getting a lot of good reviews at the moment. Need to move it up my TBR pile.
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Hope you like it as much as I did!
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Seven narrators sounds like a lot, so it’s good two were focused on more than others. I think I would enjoy this book.
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I think the way it’s structured, one character per chapter, makes it easy to keep the stories separate in your mind.
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Such a beautiful cover. I would read this just for the cover but you review is convincing enough 🙂
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It is a great cover.
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I must, must, must read this book!!
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Yes, yes, yes you do! 😉
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The dog’s story still haunts me! Animals and their well being apparently move me. I enjoyed learning about lace and it’s books like these that make me research history. Great review 🙂
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I didn’t really care for the dog as a narrator, but the dog’s story was very moving.
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I know nothing about the banning of lace. How crazy. Makes me want to read this one.
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That’s why I couldn’t turn down a review copy. I just had to know why it was banned.
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