The story opens in Ireland, where Kate has come to lick her wounds after the death of her mother and being dumped by her boyfriend. She chose Ireland as this is where she was planning on coming with her mother to explore the land of their ancestors.
Taking her time, Kate wanders around the country with no fixed destination in mind. She ends up in the remote seaside village of Glenmara on market day where she meets the women of a local lace-making society. Bernie is one of those women, and a widow. She recognizes a lost soul and offers Kate a bed for the night, which turns out to be longer, and Kate joins the lace-making circle to learn the craft.
The women of the circle are a diverse group. Bernie is lonely, missing her husband with a passion; Aileen has low self-esteem and a rebellious daughter; Moira is being abused by her husband but won’t complain about him, Oona is a breast cancer survivor who no longer feels lovely, and Colleen is a fisherman’s wife who cannot relax until her husband is safely home.Kate convinces the women to use their lace-making skills to embellish plain underwear to create exquisite lingerie. The lingerie ends up with beautiful lace flowers, fish, fairies, and even skulls and bones, worked into the pattern. As each lady completes her piece the reader is drawn into their life, magic is weaved, souls soothed, and the difficulties that each of them face are overcome. Although some of the difficulties are harder to solve than others, new love unfolds, relationships are mended, and friendships deepen.
You will need a hanky – but you will laugh as well. Support cast is very good with the misguided Catholic priest Father Dominic Byrne who thinks the lace-maker’s work is evil, the enigmatic traveler William, and the angst-ridden artist, Deane Sullivan all playing their parts in the plot well. The main and support characters are all people you want to meet, and some you wouldn’t. Overall, the book is easy to read, gentle in its delivery and covers some tough topics.
WOW!! I loved this book, didn't want to stop reading it.
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