Author returns to Marblehead for tour preview

MARBLEHEAD – Marblehead High alumna Brunonia Barry may be a Salem resident now – but tonight she’s giving her former hometown a sneak preview of the national book tour for her first novel, “The Lace Reader.”Her appearance in the meeting room at Abbot Public Library tonight at 7 will be her first stop in a tour for the mystery novel that has already received notice in this week’s issue of TIME Magazine. The book reached stores on Tuesday and her tour, which also includes a stop this evening at the House of Seven Gables in Salem, will run through November. She also spoke at Marblehead High last spring to an audience of about 80 students and adults, mostly women.Originally self-published, the novel was sold to Harper Collins at auction for a seven-figure bid, which includes movie rights and a second novel. A favorable review from Publisher’s Weekly created industry buzz about the book – and that buzz is becoming a frenzy. Barry’s national tour is scheduled to begin in the Boston area Thursday and unsigned copies of the self-published edition, pulled from circulation last fall after the agent’s auction, are already selling online for $140.The book is about a young woman who can read the future in patterns of lace. She returns to her hometown, Salem, where her great-aunt’s death appears to be foul play. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a fictional book, The Lace Reader’s Guide, written by a character in the novel, commenting on the events that follow.Barry spent almost 10 years as a Hollywood screenwriter and she and her husband own a company called SmartGames.As the library publicist put it, “Be one of the first to meet and hear from Brunonia Barry as she prepares for her national tour.”