Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier

Sixteen year old Griet's life is thrown into turmoil when her artisan father is blinded in an industrial accident and she is sent to work as a maid in the home of the famous painter Johannes Vermeer. The Vermeer family seem wealthy on the surface but the master of the house paints slowly and with many little mouths to feed and the mistress constantly pregnant debts are piling up. The only solution to the problem is for Vermeer to paint more pictures for his wealthy patron the lecherous van Ruijven who, despite the scandal it will cause, insists that he wants a painting of Griet to hang on his wall. Griet is caught between a rock and a hard place, she rejects ...  Read the complete review

The cover of the novel is graced with a painting by Johannes Vermeer of a young girl sitting turned away from the front but turning her fresh face back towards the artist. The background to the painting is dark so all attention is focussed on the subject. She is plainly dressed, her hair demurely covered but her moistened, parted lips suggest a more mature wisdom to life. Her eyes glisten and the same bright light is reflected in the pearl earring dangling from her left lobe. Chevalier has obviously been fascinated by this portrait and has written a novel describing the girl in the painting and how she came to be associated with Vermeer. As you get ...  Read the complete review

Having seen the film to this quite some time ago I really wanted to read the book just to see how much different of lacking the film was, as they usually are once made into a film. Luckily I was treated this this for my birthday but as I had so many books I have only just got around to reading it. The story is set in 1664 and Griet is a young girl living at home with her mother, father and sister. Her father had an accident at work and was now blind so he was unable to bring any money into the house. Griet gets a surprise when she is visited at home by a wealthy couple, Catharine and her painter husband. Griet is soon told by her mother that she is to become ...  Read the complete review

'Girl with a pearl earring' is a novel based on a painting of the same name, and it seems to make sense to start by talking about the art. If you scroll back up, you can in fact see the book cover, which I strongly recomend you do. The detail isn't so clear on this website, but it gives you an idea. A girl gazes over her shoulder, looking out at someone, perhaps at the artist who paints her. Her expression is enigmatic; perhaps fearful, perhaps seductive, certainly haunted, perhaps as though she about to say somrthing. It is a young face, but one full of character and emotion. The dress style is eccentric, with the colourful headdress, and the peal ...  Read the complete review

In the past my record with Tracey Chevalier is exactly 50/50; though I loved The Lady And The Unicorn, her most recent novel, Burning Bright, left me cold and bored me to tears. However, knowing that this had been commissioned for a film and having heard good things about this novel, it has long been one I wanted to pick up. Hence why I splashed out £1.75 when I saw it in a charity shop recently. I like buying my books from charity shops because as well as getting something for myself, I am also able to give something back to worthwhile and worthy causes. But I digress.....Girl With A Pearl Earring tells the story of the daughter of a tile-maker, Griet, who ...  Read the complete review