Product Description

A sumptuous new look for Tracy Chevalier's bestselling novel. Griet, the young daughter of a tilemaker in seventeeth century Holland, obtains her first job, as a servant in Vermeer's household. Tracy Chevalier shows us, through Griet's eyes, the complicated family, the society of the small town of Delft, and life with an obsessive genius. Griet loves being drawn into his artistic life, and leaving her former drudgery, but the cost to her own survival may be high.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31071 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Dutch painter Vermeer has remained one of the great enigmas of 17th-century Dutch art. Whilst little is known of his personal life, his extraordinary paintings of natural and domestic life, with their subtle play of light and colour, have come to define the Dutch Golden Age. The mysterious portrait of the anonymous Girl with a Pearl Earring has fascinated art historians for centuries, and it is this magnetic painting that lies at the heart of Tracy Chevalier's second novel of the same title.

Girl with a Pearl Earring centres on Vermeer's prosperous household in Delft in the 1660s. The appointment of the quiet, perceptive heroine of the novel, the servant Griet, gradually throws the household into turmoil as Vermeer and Griet become increasingly intimate, an increasingly tense situation that culminates in her working for Vermeer as his assistant, and ultimately sitting for him as a model. Chevalier deliberately cultivates a limpid, painstakingly observed style in homage to Vermeer, and the complex domestic tensions of the Vermeer household are vividly evoked, from the jealous, vain, young wife to the wise, taciturn mother in law. At times the relationship between servant and master seems a little anachronistic, but Girl with a Pearl Earring does contain a final delicious twist in its tail. Chevalier acknowledges her debt to Simon Schama's classic study of the Dutch Golden Age, The Embarrassment of Riches, and the novel comes hard on the heels of Deborah Moggach's similar tale of domestic intrigue behind the easel of 17th-century Dutch painting, Tulip Fever.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a fascinating piece of speculative historical fiction, but how much more can novelists extract from the Dutch Golden Age? --Jerry Brotton

Review
Praise for 'Girl with a Pearl Earring': 'Chevalier's book is a delight' Simon Jenkins, Guardian 'A portrait of radiance!Tracy Chevalier brings the real artist Vermeer and a fictional muse to life in a jewel of a novel.' Time 'It has a slow, magical current of its own that picks you up and carries you stealthily along!a beautiful story, lovingly told by a very talented writer.' Daily Mail 'A wonderful novel, mysterious, steeped in atmosphere, deeply revealing about the process of painting!truly magical.' Guardian

About the Author
Tracy Chevalier, born and brought up in the US, came to Britain as part of her university course and never went home. She has worked for art galleries and publishers. Tracy Chevalier is married with a son.

Customer Reviews

A maid's life in 17th century Holland
The audio cassette version of Girl With a Pearl Earring:

The fictional story behind Vermeer's famous painting revolves around sixteen-year old Griet, who becomes a maid in the artist's home to help her struggling family. She is a quiet, intelligent girl, fully aware of her rather helpless situation: She must do the hardest work from morning til night without sympathy or kindness in the cold house. She does, however, greatly admire the elusive Vermeer, and to her shock and secret joy, he asks her one day to be his model for a painting. She must also contend with the unwanted attentions of Vermeer's wealthy patron, and is unsure of her feelings for the amorous young butcher.

Since the uneducated Griet is the story's narrator, author Chevalier has written in a very simple, uncluttered style: There are virtually no compound sentences, few adjectives, and even fewer words describing emotions. This is because Griet's lot in life is to serve; it makes no difference how she feels about people, events, or tasks, so she doesn't dwell on them.

Griet never refers to Vermeer by name; he is always "The Master," or simply "Him." While a bit of an affectation on the part of the author, it reflects Griet's view of him as bigger than life; godlike. She never puts into words her feelings for him, nor does he for her; indeed people at that time kept their thoughts to themselves. We learn little about Vermeer, except that he took scant notice of his homelife, which was rife with conflict between the mistress, servants, and children. The last chapter was the most intense and was indeed a satisfying end to Griet's story.

Narrator Ruth Ann Phimister's voice is low and sounds too mature to be speaking the words of a sixteen-year old. However, she does convey Griet's pluckiness as well as her constant fatigue. While we don't learn about Vermeer, the story does gives us a glimpse into Dutch society in 1665. It is a quiet story.

An Enjoyable Novel
I gave this book to my housebound mother at Christmas, and it has been a highly successful gift. Not only does she find the large print refreshingly easy to read, but the story itself is surprisingly gripping. The story of Griet, going as a maid to the house of Vermeer in 1660's Delft, the tale of how she ends up sitting as a model for the artist, and the domestic intrigue rife in the house fascinate the reader. It seems an old fashioned tale, in which no murders or adulteries are committed - which does not mean, of course, that they are not considered! - and the vivid picture of 17th century life in Holland, moving from the backstreet slums of the tile painters streets to the wealthier areas of where the artist lives, are realistic and vivid. I recommend the novel to all, and my mother recommends the large print to those, like her, who find it hard to see, even with glasses.

A SPELLBINDING NOVEL...
This gifted author weaves a mesmerizing tale around Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer's most famous painting, creating an incandescent and luminous work of her own. His painting is a simple, though enigmatic, portrait of a girl with a pearl earring, about which little is known. The author, however, a born storyteller, creates a living, breathing story around it, using a singular, first person narrative. Told in spare, elegant prose, the author leaps into literary renown with this book.

The events in the book are viewed through the eyes of Griet, a sixteen year old Dutch girl, whose changed family circumstances force her into taking a position as a maid in the home of a renowned painter, the taciturn Johannes Vermeer. There, the painter resides with his tempestuous wife, Catharina, their brood of unruly children, his commanding and shrewd mother-in-law, Maria Thins, and their loyal housekeeper and cook, Tanneke. The author lovingly details seventeenth century life in the Dutch city of Delft. It is here that Griet's story unfolds.

Sensitive and perceptive, Griet is attuned to the under currents in the Vermeer household and, at first, takes care not to draw attention to herself. Still, she, the daughter of a tile painter, is curious about Vermeer's artistry and is drawn to his work and his methods. Vermeer, sensing a kindred artistic spirit in Griet, draws her into his world of paint, color, light, and beauty, creating an intimacy of the spirit between the two.

Still, Griet, a girl on the brink of becoming a woman, finds herself confused and breathlessly desiring more than she may have. Her longing for more than a communion of the spirit with Vermeer is palpable. It is, therefore, not surprising that the undercurrents in the Vermeer household should come bubbling to the surface and engulf Griet, much to her consternation.

This is a stunning literary work that fully realizes the promise that the author showed in her debut novel, "The Virgin Blue". She is an author that understands the less is often more, and she makes every word count. Deliberate and spare, her prose is lyrical in its simplicity, weaving a tale that will keep the reader spellbound. This is historical fiction at its finest. Bravo!