Lacemakers  and Lacemaking  in Fiction         Childrens books Foreign Language books

Sometimes Forever by Catherine Palmer Anne Webster needs money, and soon. Her father, a minister, got caught up in the Luddite labor movement of the early 1800's and has been tossed into prison, where he faces execution. Anne needs money to secure a lawyer, so she takes a job as a housemaid in the home of the Chouteau family. She hopes to use her skill as a lacemaker and sell some exquisite lace to the foppish second son.
Her plan is ruined when Ruel, the oldest son, returns home from America where he was believed to have died. Ruel ruins Anne's big chance to display her lace.  Ruel has plans, big plans. He wants to smuggle machines into France which will begin the mechanization of the lace industry. Anne is horrified. To her, lace is made by hand or not made at all.

Larceny and Old Lace by Tamar Myers
Although Abigail is puzzled by the instrument of death--an exquisite antique bell pull that Aunt Eulonia never would have had the taste to acquire--she's willing to let the authorities find the culprit. But now, Auntie's priceless lace collection is missing, and somebody's threatened Abby's most priceless possession--her son, Charlie.

Framed in Lace by Monica Ferris
After resting at the bottom of a lake for the last fifty years, the steam ferry Hopkins is being raised and returned to service. When crews bring it to the surface, it is carrying an unexpected passenger --the skeleton of a young woman. A scrap of water damaged lace is found near the body and Detective Mike Malloy is forced to once again solicit the expertise of Betsy and her group of needleworkers.
The author added:
"A patron of a needlework shop owned by my heroine manages to sort out the pattern and prove it was bobbin lace with a butterfly pattern.  Another patron used to be famous for her bobbin lace -- and she always worked a butterfly into her patterns as a signature.  My sleuth must prove it wasn't the bobbin lace maker who murdered the young woman found in the boat."

Shattered Silk by Barbara Michaels.
In her quaint vintage clothing boutique in picturesque Georgetown, Karen Nevitt's laces and white linens seem so innocent. Her aunt's aged friends have even ransacked their attics to help the novice entrepreneur launch her business. The dresses they produce are exquisite—valuable designer originals from decades past—but unwittingly Karen has discovered something far more lethal than fashion trends. Concealed by the delicate fabrics is the hidden clue to a forgotten mystery, and someone is willing to kill to keep it that way.

Irish Lace by Andrew M. Greeley
 An exciting mystery--and a touching Irish-American love story. Lacemaking is mentioned several times but does not play a major role in this book.

Tina, the little lace maker by Georgie Sheldon
It's a turn-of-the-(19th)century story of a young woman's misadventures.
chapter 1
 

In Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe,
Moll steals lace and other textiles, and at one point sets up a merchant who is illegally selling imported Flanders lace.

A Dangerous Devotion by Barbara Kyle
excerpt:

Eleanor Grenville made no response.  She was bent in concentration over her lace-making table, her long, white fingers winding the white silk thread around the maze of silver pins.  Eleanor was fifty-seven and
her hands did not move quickly, but they did move expertly - winding, tying tiny knots, snipping the silk with a pair of silver scissors.  The fabric taking shape among the pins looked like a fantastic dry snowflake, a
variation of the hundreds of soft white creations around her. Eleanor's handiwork filled the room.

Lace drooped from her worktable.  Lace hung from the four posts of her bed in the corner.  Lace lay scattered on the floor like drifts of snow.  Lace hung from hooks in the rafters, and the candlelight shining
through its myriad holes made spangled patterns on the walls, themselves covered with folds of lace.  Lace had been worked into swatches and frills; into caps, gloves, collars, and stockings; into shawls, chemises, christening gowns, petticoats, and capes - garments that seemed created for a race of ethereal spirits, for they certainly would not withstand the rigors of wear in human life.  The room was a fairy cobweb of lace.

Then she set to work again, carefully winding her thread among the pins.

Secret in the Old Lace  (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Series #59)
by  Carolyn Keene. 1980

the plot takes Nancy Drew to Brussels, then Bruges, where she vists the Kantcentrum and learns how lace is made, etc.  Also visits a lace museum in Bruges...

Marie la Dentelliere by Mick Fouriscot
Through Marie, the main character you see  how lacemaking came to the Auvergneand how the
lacemaking people live at the end of 19th century. Marie travels a bit and so we learn about other lace-centre in France. We "met" also Saint Francois Régis, the Saint of french lacemaker, and hear about Notre Dame de France the big statue over the church in Le Puy. The basic ideas are true and the rest is a bit fiction. Interessting to read. On the title is this wonderful painting which is to see in the Museum
Crozatier in Le Puy (unhappily hanging too high and too dark) "La dentelliére d Espaly from L. Giron.
 

The Loneliest Magician (in the Dragon Nimbus series) by Irene Radford

Vol. 3....lace plays a major role in this volume.  One of the major characters in this volume is a bobbin
lacemaker named Katrina, from a family of lace makers.  Runes woven into a fine shawl made by
her mother play a key role
 
 

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Childrens books

"Little Grey Rabbit Makes Lace" by Alison Uttley

     A wonderful children's book by Alison Uttley.  It is from a series of books about a grey rabbit, her family and friends.  She meets an "old lacemaker" and is intrigued by the process, so learns how to make lace from the elderly woman.
     Alison Uttley was inspired to write 'Little Grey Rabbit Makes Lace' after she had been introduced to the lacemaker May Palmer. May was already quite elderly but still making lace.
     In later years the sister of a Poole Bobbin Lacemaker nursed May Palmer and May, knowing of Margaret's interest in lacemaking gave her one of her pillows and some bobbins. Unfortunately Margaret passed away a few years ago but the bobbins continue to be loved and used by one lucky Poole lacemaker each year as they are  now known as the 'Margaret's Bobbins' (along with some other very special bobbins) and they are awarded each year at the annual competition for the best presentation of lace.

Barbapapa at Work by Annette Yison and Talus Taylor (1979)
Fully Illustrated storybook with lumpy creatures at work including a whole chapter on Barbabelle the Lacemaker

THE LACE SNAIL by Betsy Byars.  (1975)
It is the story of a very agreeable snail and how she was making lace for her friends.
The animals beg the snail for some of her lacy trail and she tries to oblige each with a gift appropriate to its nature

SOPHIE'S MASTERPIECE  by Eileen Spinelli (2001)
....wonderful illistrations.  It is  a spiders story and how she made her masterpiece.  Charming.

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Foreign Language books

Une Tradition; La Dentelle du Puy by Jean Arsac; Christine Bonneton, Ed;
Centre d'enseignement de la Dentelle au Fuseau; 1989; paperback.
        Collection of stories and poems about lacemaking in the Le Puy area.

    Quand Charlotte S'en Mele; une histoire de dentellieres by Nathalie
Azoulai; editions ouvrieres; 1990; paperback     A children's book, nicely illustrated.