The Ruins of Lace by Iris Anthony

Lace is a thing like hope.

It is beauty; it is grace.

It was never meant to destroy

so many lives.

I won this book from a Sourcebooks giveaway. It had been on my to-read list at goodreads and I was so happy to have won it. 

Lace is forbidden and yet everyone wears it and wants to wear only the best: Flemish lace is at high demand. For Lisette, lace begins her downfall. For Katharina, it defines who she is. 

This tale is told from several perspectives. You have Lisette, a nobleman's daughter whose life is in tatters after she smudges a piece of lace of a guest. You have that guest, the Count, and the misery that his is life and how he takes it out on others. Katharina's life is all about lace and has been since she was taken from her family to make it for the nuns. Heilwich, Katharina's sister, spends her life trying to rescue Katharina. You have Alexandre, son of a warrior who died of leprosy, in love with Lisette, who does his best to rescue her. You have Denis, the idealistic soldier on the lookout for lace smugglers. And you have the Dog, Mon Cher Argent, abused and traumatized and used to run lace across the border. 

The chapters from the dog's perspective were the hardest for me. I cried at the scene in Crime and Punishment when the horse is beaten to death. I cried while reading The Yearling, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, you get the idea. And to have the dog's thoughts as he's enduring his life was heartbreaking. Moreso than the chapters of the humans and how corruption and desires ruined their lives. 

I liked switching perspectives along the same story line. The story was always moving forward, all interconnected, much like the lace that is so highly sought. I prefer this style narration over epistolary novels, hearing the inner vexations of the villain, the worries the good guy is keeping a lid on, etc. 

I pitied Lisette and the extremes to which she berates herself for something she did as a child. No matter how hard he tries, the father just cannot prove to her that it was simply circumstance. Alexandre can't seem to get it through her head either. I pitied her and yet I wanted to smack some sense into her, too. You detest the Count, especially as you learn what he ruined that family for. You cheer when the bad guys get theirs. You want to weep when it seems all for naught. 

Definitely recommended.