Helpful Score: 8
As a fan of the rest of Tracy Chevalier's books, I was a little disappointed when I started reading this. It didn't grab my attention the way her other books did. It did pick up a little at the end and I stayed up late to finish it, but overall I was a little disappointed.
Helpful Score: 7
This was a slow start but stick with it. Not like other Chevalier books at all... the story was a little flat until the end.
Helpful Score: 6
I have read all of Tracy Chevalier's books. This one didn't measure up to the others. The story line was weak, chaotic and rambling at times. It could hve been so much more interesting. If you like period novels ,that take place in 19th century London, you will probably still enjoy this. She gives great discriptions of foggy old London and the poverty & misery that existed at that time. I just did not find as good and riviting as her other books. The ending was strange. I felt like she had a deadline to meet and just gave up on it. Too bad. This book had so much potential.
Helpful Score: 6
This is Chevalier's new book about the London of William Blake. It has its interesting moments, but I didn't like it as well as "Girl with a Pearl Earring"--the characters aren't quite as dynamic s those in her first novel. Nevertheless, I learned a lot about the period of time and the geography of London. I just wished for more Blake and less of the villains in the circus@
Helpful Score: 1
From Publishers Weekly
Author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, set in the home/studio of Vermeer, and other novels, Chevalier turns in an oblique look at poet and painter William Blake (17571827). Following the accidental death of their middle son, the Kellaways, a Dorsetshire chair maker and family, arrive in London's Lambeth district during the anti-Jacobin scare of 1792. Thomas Kellaway talks his way into set design work for the amiable circus impresario Philip Astley, whose fireworks displays provide the same rallying point that the guillotine is providing in Paris. Astley's libertine horseman son, John, sets his sights on Kellaway's daughter, Maisie (an attention she rather demurely returns). Meanwhile, youngest surviving Kellaway boy Jem falls for poor, sexy firebrand Maggie Butterfield. Blake, who imagined heaven and hell as equally incandescent and earth as the point where the two worlds converge, is portrayed as a murky Friar Laurence figure whose task is to bind and loosen the skeins of young love going on around himthat is, until a Royalist mob intrudes into his garden to sound out his rather advanced views on liberty, equality and fraternity. While the setting is dramatically fertile, there's no spark to the dialogue or plot, and allusions to Blake's work and themes are overbaked. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Author of Girl with a Pearl Earring, set in the home/studio of Vermeer, and other novels, Chevalier turns in an oblique look at poet and painter William Blake (17571827). Following the accidental death of their middle son, the Kellaways, a Dorsetshire chair maker and family, arrive in London's Lambeth district during the anti-Jacobin scare of 1792. Thomas Kellaway talks his way into set design work for the amiable circus impresario Philip Astley, whose fireworks displays provide the same rallying point that the guillotine is providing in Paris. Astley's libertine horseman son, John, sets his sights on Kellaway's daughter, Maisie (an attention she rather demurely returns). Meanwhile, youngest surviving Kellaway boy Jem falls for poor, sexy firebrand Maggie Butterfield. Blake, who imagined heaven and hell as equally incandescent and earth as the point where the two worlds converge, is portrayed as a murky Friar Laurence figure whose task is to bind and loosen the skeins of young love going on around himthat is, until a Royalist mob intrudes into his garden to sound out his rather advanced views on liberty, equality and fraternity. While the setting is dramatically fertile, there's no spark to the dialogue or plot, and allusions to Blake's work and themes are overbaked. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Helpful Score: 1
For fans of Tracy Chevalier, her newest book in years, is very satisfying. A great historical romance and period piece.
Rather tedious at times, but perhaps this is a good look at London back then. Or perhaps not. Finished it to say I did.
I absolutely loved the book.By the time I was done , I couldn't wait and get another book of Tracy Chevalier.
It depicts 18th century London beautifully with William Blake in the center of it.
It depicts 18th century London beautifully with William Blake in the center of it.
I enjoyed this book, though not Chevalier's most powerful, it provided an amazing feel for what life was like in London in the 1790s. I was hoping for more of William Blake but it was interesting to see how he fit into his neighborhood and how he appeared from other characters points of view.
I think you either like this author or you don't, this is the second book i have tried of hers and just could not get into. The novel sounded like i would love it, but the writting just left me "Blah". I had to force myself to continue each page that i read and then when i found myself rereading the same page over again because i didn't retain any of it the first time, i knew this was going to be a long drawn out process with little reward. I had to give up. I am sure it will have an audience but i am just not in it.
I had gotten used to the idea of Chevalier's books being based on works of art rather then pieces of literature. Never the less, this book is just as satisfying as the others.
I enjoyed this book. I found it to be an original idea and I ended up reading some of the works of William Blake after I read the book. It took a little while to engage me,but once I got into it, i was hooked.
I enjoyed this book. It is a great introduction to Willliam Blake, and tells a wonderful historical story.
An unusual and lovely book.....unexpected in a gentle, intelligent way. Some history, some poetry, and a wonderful weaving of events. Really very good.
Good novel if you're interested in art and history.
Great book. If you liked her "Girl with the Pearl Earring" you will probably enjoy this one too. The author has obviously done lots of research.
"London 1792. The Kellaways move from rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiving city. They are leaving behind a terrible loss, a blow that only a completely new life may soften.
Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life ot their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey influences one of Blake's most entrancing works."
Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life ot their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey influences one of Blake's most entrancing works."
