"The Lacemakers of Glenmara"

The Lacemakers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri

Kate Robinson is hiking her way across Ireland, trying to forget the man who walked out on her without warning after 5 years. Her career in fashion design had been faltering, so with nothing to keep her in Seattle she traveled to Ireland, taking the trip she and her mother had intended to take together until cancer ended those plans forever.

After a month in Ireland, Kate has wandered into the tiny village of Glenmara, staying in the house of a recently widowed woman named Bernie, who, along with a group of other local ladies, are crafters of hand-made lace. Kate becomes their student.

There is of course a single man living up the road, and the requisite rocky romance ensues. Actually it's not as predictable as that. Well, yeah, I guess it is. But - there are a number of good stories told around that one. The village women all have their own relationships, families, joys and sorrows, blessings and tragedies, stories that bring a lot of depth and interest to it overall. It's really those stories that provide the real interest and make the book worth reading.

This book isn't great literature, but it is a nice piece of light summer reading, a gentle place to slip away to for a few hours. It's enjoyable if you don't expect more from it than that. And what a great cover!

My favourite line:

"She'd been a quiet person at home, had let the gregarious people in her life - Ethan, her friend Ella, even her mother - take the lead, happy to be the soft spoken sidekick who offered the occasional sage remark, witty aside."