The Lace Maker's Daughter

by Gary Crew

Seventeen year old Theresa Adelaide Bartlett (Tabby, as she is called) has been confined to her parents' stately home, Camelot, because of her antisocial even violent behaviour. It is her intention to research, and write about, the truth behind the rumours that her great-grandmother, and namesake, the lovely Adelaide Bartlett, had murdered her parents many years before. But Tabby does not use conventional means to research her illusive subject. Believing that she is blessed with the gift of psychometry (the ability to learn the story behind an object by touching it), Tabby sets out to learn all that she can about Adelaide by exploring objects from her Romantic nineteenth century world.

From the award-winning author of The Diviner's Son comes this intricately crafted tale of a young woman's intrigue and self deception. But then again, she does aspire to be a writer...

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult

249 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2005

About the author

Dr Gary Crew, author of novels, short stories and picture books for older children and young adults, began his writing career in 1985, when he was a high school teacher. His books are challenging and intriguing, often based on non-fiction. As well as writing fiction, Gary is a Associate Professor in Creative Writing, Children's and Adult Literature, at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland and editor of the After Dark series.

He lives with his wife Christine on several acres in the cool, high mountains of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Australia in a house called 'Green Mansions' which is shaded by over 200 Australian rainforest palms he has cultivated. He enjoys gardening, reading, and playing with his dogs Ferris, Beulah, and Miss Wendy. In his spare time he has created an Australian Rainforest Garden around his home, filled with Australian palms. Gary loves to visit antique shops looking for curios and beautiful objects.

Gary Crew has been awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the year four times: twice for Book of the Year for Young Adult Older Readers (Strange Objects in 1991 and Angel’s Gate in 1993) and twice for Picture Book of the Year with First Light in 1993 (illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe) and The Watertower (illustrated by Steven Woolman) in 1994. Gary’s illustrated book, Memorial (with Shaun Tan) was awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book in 2000 and short listed for the Queensland Premier’s Awards. He has also won the Wilderness Society Award, the Whitley Award and the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction.

In the USA he has been twice short listed for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Fiction Award for Youth and the Hungry Minds Review American Children’s Book of distinction. In Europe he has twice been and twice the prestigious White Raven Award for his illustrated books. Among his many Australian awards is the Ned Kelly Prize for Crime Fiction, the New South Wales Premier’s Award and the Victorian Premier’s Award. He has been short listed for both the Queensland Premier’s and the Western Australian Premier’s awards for Fiction.

Reviews

[Reader Views · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Lacemaker’s Daughter” is about an eleven-year-old English girl with the weight of the world on her shoulders. With a squandering, drunken, and abusive father, an ailing mother, and an infirm younger brother, Peter, it’s up to Susannah Brigginshaw to make and sell the lace, like her mother taught her. Never having spent even a day in school, Susannah’s future seems to be void of hope. But little by little, she uses her street smarts to find a way for herself and Peter. The siblings find themselves in strange and unlikely circumstances as they try to survive on nothing. Ultimately, Susannah will find her inner strength, discovering that there is so much more to life than scraping by and selling lace.

This story is about the author’s real relative, Susannah Brigginshaw, who actually died at the age of eleven in 1819. Diane Keziah Roberston plays with the idea of “What if Susannah lived?” In the author’s words, “…all I wanted was to give her the life she never had,” and she certainly did.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this historical fiction piece. It starts out seeming like all it will be is an unfortunate, bitter, and heart-wrenching story, but it is so much more than that. “The Lacemaker’s Daughter” is a tale of triumph and defeating the odds. The story covers Susannah’s life from the age of eleven until she is a young woman. The reader sees that Susannah has a lot of courage, is headstrong, and yet is more forgiving than most. She is extremely responsible, which has been ingrained in her since she was young.

The story shows a lot of variety and, at the same time, has surprising recurring themes. Robertson creates events in Susannah’s life but doesn’t gloss over them or continue as if “that’s that.” She doesn’t leave anything unresolved but looks at everything as Susannah would. For example, when two of Susannah’s family members die and she is unable to buy gravestones, she has wooden crosses made. But she doesn’t let that be that. She often thinks of the family members and buys headstones once she can afford them, even though it takes her nearly a decade. She does this despite the fact that her life has greatly progressed, and she is busy with many other things, not to mention that she lives far from graves.

All in all, this is wonderful historical fiction. Robertson has done her best to give Susannah a fruitful life that doesn’t sound far-fetched. The story feels as if it could have been real.

[Ulrike]

literally dont remember much that happened in this, i read this years and years ago and would love to revisit it! linc tasmania put it in the fuckingf stacks tho >:(

[Liz]

Fascinating. I quite liked it, though I didn't like the main character Tibby too much. She was quite humorous at times, and had quite an interesting situation, but she was also rather mean.

The ending is a whale of a disappointment, though. This book gives you all the ingredients of a mystery, and then never solves it for you. However, I might dislike that very much, but I can understand it. I mean, the essence of Adelaide Bartlett was that she was a mysterious character, and stripping that away would have wrecked the magic of the novel. So I've decided to like it for what it is.

I reckon Gary Crew wrote this book, intending to show who she was, then at the end, realised that it would completely destroy the novel if he unveiled the mystery. I can understand that after all that time and effort, you would want people to know what you had done- but honestly. With an ending like that, he's an idiot to have let it get published.

[Mella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book for the cover - it matched the cover for The Diviner's Son which I already had on my shelf. I wasn't too sure about the story but I ended up liking it. It was strange and a bit slow in parts but it picked up speed a bit towards the end. I mostly liked Tabby although she came across as a bit selfish, horribly mean and spoiled at times. Adelaide was interesting and I enjoyed her story unfolding. I don't like that the conclusion wasn't clearer - I'm iffy about reads that leave it up to the reader to decide what happened - but it was okay. 3 stars.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read and interesting that the main character was filled in by impressions made on other characters, with the story slowly taking shape, but gaps left for the reader to fill in themselves. It was very well done and I think different readers would come away with different conclusions as nothing is stated obviously, it is all a matter of perspective.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading it; each of the different storytellers, but I wonder at the ending...was it just a cop out? Will we know Tabby's story?