Girl With a Pearl Earring (original 1999; edition 1999)

by Tracy Chevalier

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Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML: Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of Griet, a 16-year-old Dutch girl, who becomes a maid in the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer. Her calm and perceptive manner not only helps her in her household duties, but also attracts Vermeer's attention. He slowly draws her into the world of his paintings and ultimately has her sit for him as a model. In this richly imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired on of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings, Tracy Chevalier transports readers to a bygone time and place. History and fiction merge seamlessly in a luminous tale of artistic vision, sensual awakening, and daily life in the Netherlands of the 17th-century. .… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	Docent-MFAStPete
Title:	Girl With a Pearl Earring
Authors:	Tracy Chevalier
Info:	Dutton
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	Fiction - Vermeer, Jan

Work Information

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (1999)

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henheine, elenaboo, hypewilliams, siacobel, b.rehm, lwhite2314, starrschlag, private library, Rebecca1123, PaulPortos

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date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 292 (next | show all)

I really enjoyed this book. It was surprisingly quick but, in just a few pages, I was sort of drawn in. I wanted to know what would happen next. I enjoyed the love story, the silent sweep of the unspoken draw of two people. Very alluring and mysterious. I'm glad I took the time to read it. (

)

Trisha_Thomas | Nov 13, 2024 |

Review to follow (

)

DemFen | Oct 31, 2024 |

Girl With a Pearl Earring - Chevalier
5 stars

I first read this one when the movie came out. Tracy Chevalier has become a favorite author over the years. I wanted to reread the book to see how well it compared with her more recent books. I think this one stands up very well against her other work. It may still be the best of them.

My memories of the book were confused with the film. The film was beautiful, but the book is better at capturing Griet as a complex character whose life choices are severely constrained. This is what Chevalier does best. She gives rich interior lives to female characters who live with societal limitations. . (

)

msjudy | Oct 30, 2024 |

Highly sensual without being actually sexual. A window onto the methods of 17th century artists, specifically Vermeer. Very well done. (

)

Abcdarian | May 18, 2024 |

I had a copy of this on my TBR pile, so I am happy to be able to cross this one off of this list, and to put the book in one of our nearby little free libraries, for someone else to read. Probably everyone else here has read this one? Historical fiction about a young woman working as a maid for Vermeer. I was really enjoying the book at first, for the depiction of life in the Netherlands in 1664. In the end, I felt there was a lot of housecleaning and laundry, and not enough plot. So, 3 1/2 stars. (

)

banjo123 | Jan 20, 2024 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 292 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

2 reviews

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thingScore 75

For a while it seems that it will be... an artist romance. Tracy Chevalier steers her novel deliberately close and tacks abruptly away. The book she has written, despite a lush note or two and occasional incident overload, is something far different and better... [Instead, it is] a brainy novel whose passion is ideas.

added by Shortride | editThe New York Times, Richard Eder (Jan 24, 2000)

Chevalier's exploration into the soul of this complex but nave young woman is moving, and her depiction of 17th-century Delft is marvelously evocative.

added by Shortride | editThe New York Times Book Review, Ruth Coughlin (Jan 23, 2000)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Chevalier, Tracy	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Bruning, Frans	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Eikli, Ragnhild	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Fortier-Masek, Marie-Odile	Traduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Gothóni, Arja	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Morahan, Hattie	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Pugliese, Luciana	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Riera, Ernest	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Strandberg, Anna	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Tremain, Rose	Foreword	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Vázquez, Pilar	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Wulfekamp, Ursula	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Biblioteca Sábado

Biblioteca Sábado (50)

Colección Novela Histórica (libro 3)

Gallimard, Folio (3648)

List Taschenbuch (60434)

La Magrana, Butxaca (58)

— 1 more

I narratori delle tavole [Neri Pozza]

Is contained in

Girl with a Pearl Earring | Falling Angels | Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

Girl with a Pearl Earring | The Lady and the Unicorn | Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

Girl with a Pearl Earring | Falling Angels | The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier

Girl with a Pearl Earring | Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier

Has the adaptation

Girl with a Pearl Earring [2003 film] by Peter Webber

Has as a student's study guide

A Study Guide for Tracy Chevalier's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Sara Constantakis

Wizard Study Guide Girl with a Pearl Earring (Cambridge Wizard English Student Guides) by A. P. Di Stephano

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Original title

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1999

People/Characters

Important places

Delft, South Holland, Netherlands

The Netherlands

Important events

Related movies

Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Dedication

For my father

First words

My mother did not tell me they were coming.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Girl with a Pearl Earring (novel)

▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:

Girl with a Pearl Earring tells the story of Griet, a 16-year-old Dutch girl, who becomes a maid in the house of the painter Johannes Vermeer. Her calm and perceptive manner not only helps her in her household duties, but also attracts Vermeer's attention. He slowly draws her into the world of his paintings and ultimately has her sit for him as a model.

In this richly imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired on of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings, Tracy Chevalier transports readers to a bygone time and place. History and fiction merge seamlessly in a luminous tale of artistic vision, sensual awakening, and daily life in the Netherlands of the 17th-century.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Chevalier's classic book takes place during the 17th Century and features Griet, a young Dutch maid, who moves in with the family of the well-known artist Vermeer; she discovers that her profession requires long hours, no privacy, and small contact with her own ailing family. However, Griet's only place of solitude is when she cleans Vermeer's studio and reveals to him her appreciation of his art.

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