Most Popular Books by Tracy Chevalier

Settling in the swamps of early-nineteenth-century Ohio, the Goodenough family establish an apple orchard that begins a long family battle, and years later, as their youngest son wanders through Gold Rush California, his family''s past makes an unexpected appearance.

New York Times bestselling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring and At the Edge of the Orchard Tracy Chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the American past in The Last Runaway, bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement. Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker, moves to Ohio in 1850--only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape. Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality. However, Honor is drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, where she befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

The New York Times bestselling novel by the author of A Single Thread and At the Edge of the Orchard Translated into thirty-nine languages and made into an Oscar-nominated film, starring Scarlett Johanson and Colin Firth Tracy Chevalier transports readers to a bygone time and place in this richly-imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired one of Vermeer''s most celebrated paintings. History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of sixteen-year-old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius . . . even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil.

From the New York Times bestselling novelist, a stunning historical novel that follows the story of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, two extraordinary 19th century fossil hunters who changed the scientific world forever. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot ammonites and other fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man. Mary soon finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth, a middle-class spinster who shares her passion for scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy, but ultimately turns out to be their greatest asset. From the author of At the Edge of the Orchard and Girl With a Pearl Earring comes this incredible story of two remarkable women and their voyage of discovery.

Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin—two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family’s French ancestry. As the novel unfolds—alternating between Ella’s story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier—a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page.

A tour de force of history and imagination, The Lady and the Unicorn is Tracy Chevalier’s answer to the mystery behind one of the art world’s great masterpieces—a set of bewitching medieval tapestries that hangs today in the Cluny Museum in Paris. They appear to portray the seduction of a unicorn, but the story behind their making is unknown—until now. Paris, 1490. A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house—mother and daughter, servant, and lady-in-waiting—before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. There, master weaver Georges de la Chapelle risks everything he has to finish the tapestries—his finest, most intricate work—on time for his exacting French client. The results change all their lives—lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look. In The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier weaves fact and fiction into a beautiful, timeless, and intriguing literary tapestry—an extraordinary story exquisitely told.

From the author of the international bestseller Girl With a Pearl Earring and At the Edge of the Orchard, comes a stirring eighteenth-century coming-of-age tale In the waning days of eighteenth-century London, poet, artist, and printer William Blake works in obscurity as England is rocked by the shock waves of the French Revolution. Next door, the Kellaway family has just moved in, and country boy Jem Kellaway strikes up a tentative friendship with street-savvy Maggie Butterfield. As their stories intertwine with Blake''s, the two children navigate the confusing and exhilarating path to adolescence, and inspire the poet to create the work that enshrined his genius.

Tracy Chevalier brings Shakespeare’s Othello—a harrowing drama of jealousy and revenge—to a 1970s era elementary school playground. Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat’s son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day—so he’s lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student can’t stand to witness this budding relationship: Ian decides to destroy the friendship between the black boy and the golden girl. By the end of the day, the school and its key players—teachers and pupils alike—will never be the same again. The tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Peeking over the shoulders of four 11 year olds—Osei, Dee, Ian, and his reluctant "girlfriend" Mimi—Tracy Chevalier''s powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying, and betrayal will leave you reeling.

A New York Times bestseller From the author of the international bestseller Girl With A Pearl Earring and At the Edge of the Orchard, Tracy Chevalier once again paints a distant age with a rich and provocative palette of characters. Falling Angels follows the fortunes of two families in the emerging years of the twentieth century in England, while the Queen''s death reverberates through a changing nation. Told through a variety of shifting perspectives—wives and husbands, friends and lovers, masters and their servants, and a gravedigger''s son—Falling Angels is graced with the luminous imagery that distinguished Girl With a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels is another dazzling tour de force from this "master of voices" (The New York Times Book Review).

Named a Best Historical Novel of 2024 by The Sunday Times, The Independent, and BookPage A Parade and Christian Science Monitor Best Book of June “This charming fable is at once a love story that skips through six centuries, and also a love song to the timeless craft of glassmaking. Chevalier probes the fierce rivalries and enduring loyalties of Murano''s glass dynasties, capturing the roar of the furnace, the sweat on the skin, and the glittering beauty of Venetian glass.” – Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse From the bestselling historical novelist, a rich, transporting story that follows a family of glassmakers from the height of Renaissance-era Italy to the present day. It is 1486 and Venice is a wealthy, opulent center for trade. Orsola Rosso is the eldest daughter in a family of glassblowers on Murano, the island revered for the craft. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make glass beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, in a Venice where time moves as slowly as molten glass, we follow Orsola and her family as they live through creative triumph and heartbreaking loss, from a plague devastating Venice to Continental soldiers stripping its palazzos bare, from the domination of Murano and its maestros to the transformation of the city of trade into a city of tourists. In every era, the Rosso women ensure that their work, and their bonds, endure. Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is as inventive as it is spellbinding: a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city as everlasting as their glass.

After the Great War took both her beloved brother and her fiancZ, Violet Speedwell has become a "surplus woman," one of a generation doomed to a life of spinsterhood. She is drawn into a society of women who embroider kneelers for the cathedral. When forces threaten her new independence and another war appears on the horizon, she fights to put down roots in a place where women aren''t expected to grow.grow.

Another dazzling novel by the author of the best-selling novel, Girl With A Pearl Earring. Chevalier draws a picture of family life that exposes the prejudices and flaws of a changing time, set against a backdrop of social and political turbulence in early twentieth-century London. "In her New York Times best-selling follow-up, Chevalier once again paints a distant age with a rich and provocative palette of characters. Graced with the luminous imagery that distinguished Girl With a Pearl Earring, Falling Angels is another dazzling tour de force from this "master of voices" /The New York Times Book Review

A short story by Tracy Chevalier from the collection Reader, I Married Him: Stories inspired by Jane Eyre.

En la segunda mitad del siglo XVII, el pintor holandés Johannes Vermeer inmortalizó en una tela a una bella muchacha adornada con un turbante y un pendiente de perla. Sus labios parecen esbozar una sonrisa sensual, pero sus ojos irradian la tristeza más profunda. La joven de la perla es la historia de una fascinación, de cómo surge un sentimiento que se mueve entre la admiración y el amor. La luz en los ojos de Griet, la sirvienta convertida en musa, encierra el misterio más profundo en el proceso de creación de una obra de arte. Tracy Chevalier evoca la vida cotidiana en el siglo XVII holandés en esta hermosa novela sobre el despertar a la vida y al arte.

La joven Isabelle du Moulin vive fascinada por el profundo color azul de la hornacina de la Virgen de la iglesia del pueblo. Son malos tiempos para admirar un icono católico: en la Francia del siglo XVI, el protestantismo libra una lucha feroz contra la vieja religión romana... Un día, mientras la observa extasiada, el reflejo del sol le vuelve súbitamente el cabello rojo. No puede saber entonces de qué modo esos dos colores, el rojo de su pelo y el azul de la Virgen, marcarán su vida. Cuatrocientos años más tarde, Ella Turner llega al mismo pueblo. Guiada por unos extraños sueños y con la ayuda del bibliotecario, buscará el rastro del pasado hasta desentrañar el secreto familiar que ha permanecido escondido durante siglos.

È il 1811 a Lyme, un piccolo villaggio sulla costa meridionale inglese. Le stagioni si susseguono senza scosse in paese e il decoro britannico si sposa perfettamente con la tranquilla vita di una provincia allinizio del diciannovesimo secolo. Un giorno, però, sbarcano nel villaggio le sorelle Philpot e la quiete è subito un pallido ricordo. Vengono da Londra, sono eleganti, vestite alla moda, sono bizzarre creature per gli abitanti di quella costa spazzata dal vento. Margaret, diciotto anni, riccioli neri e braccia ben tornite, sorprende costantemente tutti coi suoi turbanti verdolini sconosciuti alle ragazze di Lyme, che se ne vanno in giro ancora con grevi vestiti stile impero. Louise, meravigliosi occhi grigi e grandi mani, coltiva una passione per la botanica che è incomprensibile in quel piccolo mondo dove alle donne è dato solo di maritarsi e accudire i figli. Ma è soprattutto Elizabeth, la più grande delle Philpot, a costituire uneccentrica figura in quel paesino sperduto sulla costa. Ha venticinque anni. Dovrebbe comportarsi come una sfortunata zitella per letà che ha, ma se ne va in giro come una persona orgogliosamente libera e istruita che non si cura affatto di civettare con gli uomini. In paese ha stretto amicizia con Mary Anning, la figlia dellebanista. Quandera poco più che una poppante, Mary è stata colpita da un fulmine. La donna che la teneva fra le braccia e le due ragazze accanto a lei morirono, ma lei la scampò. Prima dellincidente era una bimba quieta e malaticcia. Ora è una ragazzina vivace e sveglia che passa il suo tempo sulla spiaggia di Lyme, dove dice di aver scoperto strane creature dalle ossa gigantesche, coccodrilli enormi vissuti migliaia di anni fa. Basata sulla storia vera di Mary Anning, la ragazzina che a Lyme Bay portò alla luce il cranio del primo ittiosauro e rese così possibile quella svolta negli studi sullevoluzione che trovò il suo coronamento nel 1859, con la pubblicazione dellOrigine delle specie di Darwin, Strane creature è una delle opere più riuscite di Tracy Chevalier: unavvincente storia di donne che lottano contro le ottuse convenzioni di unepoca per aprire la strada al progresso e alla conoscenza. «Questa è una storia vera. Vera, poetica e sorprendente. Una storia con cui Tracy Chevalier ha voluto ancora una volta rendere omaggio a eroine che vogliono sottrarsi al loro destino e spiccare il volo». Susanna Nirenstein, la Repubblica

What happens when you can''t run any further from your past? Ohio, 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Life is harsh in the swamp, and as fever picks off their children, husband and wife take solace in separate comforts. James patiently grows his sweet-tasting ''eaters'' while Sadie gets drunk on applejack made fresh from ''spitters''. Their fighting takes its toll on all of the Goodenoughs - a battle that will resonate over the years and across America. Fifteen years later their youngest son, Robert, is drifting through Goldrush California. Haunted by the broken family he fled years earlier, memories stick to him where mud once did. When he finds steady work for a plant collector, peace seems finally to be within reach. But the past is never really past.

Amb la maestria a què ens té acostumats, Tracy Chevalier fon història i ficció en aquesta novel·la sobre el conflicte etern entre les pròpies conviccions i la injustícia de les lleis humanes, a través de l''aventura d''una dona de caràcter en l''ambient hostil d''Ohio al 1850. L''Honor Bright és una humil quàquera anglesa amb el cor trencat. Emigra a Ohio amb la seva germana, esperançada de construir una nova vida, però aviat descobreix que l’Amèrica del XIX és un lloc dur i precari per viure-hi. Un dia un esclau fugitiu apareix a la granja de la nova família de l’Honor, i ella ha de decidir què fa. Fins i tot els quàquers –famosos per defensar la igualtat entre els homes– poden dubtar de trencar les lleis de la terra. Submergida en les activitats clandestines del Ferrocarril Subterrani, una xarxa de gent que ajuda els fugitius a aconseguir la llibertat, l’Honor coneix dues dones que li demostren el que pot aconseguir plantant cara. Haurà de decidir si ella també pot actuar segons el que creu, sigui quin sigui el risc que li comporti.

Contains biographical entries, a list of separately published books, and an essay on each poet.