General Chat

The Glass Painters daughter and the Virgin Blue

thank you Jean (just found out recently that you are/were racing jean Lol!!)
That is fine.

Review the Glass Painters Daughter by Rachel Hore

I had not read any books by this author before so didn't know what to expect. I was in for a treat, I thought it was a wonderful book, a great read.

There were so many aspects, so many layers to the book to keep me enthralled. The overall story of Fran's relationship with her Father and why he would not talk about her Mother. The thread running through the book about music, instrumentalists and singing. And the whole intriguing story of the making of stained glass windows and angels. And to make it complete we have the relationships Fran has with Ben the organist and Zac the stained glass window expert assistant of her Father. There was even a small mention of genealogy.

I found so much of interest in how the windows were put together that I had to keep re-reading to be sure I got it right. I have to admit that I has not heard about the angel Raphael, the guardian angel, special protector of the young, of travellers, I obviously don't remember my Old Testament learning as apparently he was the companion to Tobias. Rapheal's name meaning God Heals.

You will have realised that I loved this book and was glad that my Daughter lent it to me and I suggested it as a greaders' read. I will look out for her other books.


Ann
Glos

Review The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

I had actually read this before several years ago but couldn't really remember the story.

Tracy Chevalier does the shift between two parallel times very well, sometimes this can be confusing but I had no problem with knowing which era I was in at any given time.

I liked the way the story linked to ancestry and the subtle way the comparisons between the two females, Ella and Isabelle were made.
It was easy to imagine how isolated Ella was in the French village and how she turned to Jean Pierre for friendship which became love. I did, in a way, feel sorry for Rick and felt that Ella was a little selfish in the way she handled their marriage and the baby.

The way poor little Marie was 'disposed' of was horrific, difficult to imagine anyone doing that to a member of their family.

It did require a stretch of the imagination to believe that there would be a piece of the blue cloth, after 400 years surely it would no longer be blue. and would there still be red hair?
No matter, it was a good story and I enjoyed it a lot.

Ann
Glos

n

I read and enjoyed both the Glass Painter's Daughter and Virgin Blue although I must confess to liking The Glass Painter's Daughter best. I would have liked a bit more proof, i.e. documentation in Virgin Blue other than that it was a good read.

With The Glass Painter's Daughter I felt all aspects were covered from the past by the journal and church history. I was fascinated by the description of painting and making of stained glass windows in general having tried glass painting myself in the past (tea light holders out of jam jars!!) not quite the same I agree. The romantic incidents also were very believeable altough I guessed Fran would end up with Zac, and thought Ben to be a bit of a spoiled brat.

Will be back tomorrow with my review of The Blue Virgin.

Wasn't able to get The Glass Painters Daughter.

Tess

thank you, any more?

The Blue Virgin by Tracy Chevalier

The story is partly set in 16th Centuary France, at a time of religious persecution, bigotry and fear. Things that still happen in the world today.
It also covers modern day living and someone doing family history research.
An excellent subject for anyone doing their family tree.

I was surprised to see that this was Tracy Chevaliers first novel.

I was gripped by the story of Isabella in the 16th centuary and felt her fear, unhappiness and isolation.
Ella's story with her search for her ancestors was of particular interest to me. The parallels between Isabella and Ella, as well as their differances helped to unite both sides of the story.

I started to wonder part way through if some of Isabell'a story had been "made up" by Ella to fit the facts she had uncovered, the dreams she had and her feelings about her ancestor.
In the end I felt that it just didn't matter, although the Epilogue points that way. Maybe we can all write our own ending for Isabella, did she escape with her son and go to Rome where her belief in the Virgin was acceptable? I would like to think so.

P.S I only just noticed as I wrote this review that the name Ella is made up of the last few letters of Isabella doh!

Tess

I loved the book and will be looking out for more by the same author.

My revues-

Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

I loved this book. It was about two of my interests –family history and the Huguenots. My mother was descended from Huguenots so it was interesting to read about what their life might have been like. I thought the book described that claustrophobic feeling you can get when you move to a different place with a small community really well. Although the coincidences are sometimes rather far fetched I didn’t really notice them until later as I was so involved in the story.

The Glass Painters Daughter by Rachel Hore

Haven’t managed to get hold of this book yet, but I will read it as I did read The Memory Garden by the same author and really enjoyed it.

The Glass Painters Daughter

I really enjoyed this and read it twice in case I missed anything! Fran's complex relationship with her father was intriguing and it was interesting how her story unfolded at the same time as that of Laura and of the stained glass window. I particularly like finding out about how glass is stained for church windows - something I had never thought about much before - and learning a little about a choir. Above all I think the characters were believable and a little bit of family history just added to the book's appeal!

Virgin Blue

This just confirmed to me what we are always being told about American family history research - making assumptions about ancestry without much proof. Ella does a fair bit of this in this story, as other characters point out, although I could sympathise with her interest in her ancestors.

I didn't know much about the Huguenots so that aspect of the novel was very interesting and the description of persecution and small-town attitudes in the past was very sad. What comes across well is the despair of anyone caught in a situation from which they cannot escape and how everyone seems to suffer in some way. The fate of Marie is unbelievable - did people really used to do this?

Ella's final decisions about her marriage and her baby seemed not quite so well mapped out - I wondered if the book had been longer but had bits chopped out for editing?

So, to conclude, it was interesting but a little far-fetched in places and I probably won't read it again.

I haven't finish The Glasspainters Daughter yet so review to come later.

The Virgin Blue

I found this one really though going at times, I just couldn't warm to any of the characters and found the finding of the blue cloth and red hair was pushing the limits of believability. I didn't like Ella much at all she came across as spoilt, selfish person to me. I did have some difficulty with the french in places, if it was just one or two words I could work out what was implied but if it was more I was lost (I could have looked it up but couldn't be that bothered).

And as an aside - when the family are leaving France there is a reference to potatoes to me that is wrong, everything I can find (and I checked cause it was annoying me) doesn't have the French accepting potatoes as a food for at least another century.

The Virgin Blue
Enjoyable enough, but not one I would read again. How different from the modern day world with their ancient beliefs and superstition, but still parallel with regard to finding happiness.

The Glass Painter's Daughter
I enjoyed this one very much. It shows what work goes into the making of stained glass windows and I was very interested in the comparison of old and new Westminster - an area which I know.

I will have to check who was reading with us but are there any more?

nudging this up for when Angela gets home from work

I loved the Glass Painter's Daughter so much that I read it all in one day, I just wanted to know what happened next. I too thought that Ben was very selfish and I wanted to tell Fran that she was wasting her time such a loser.
I liked the way that it went back in time in the journal which made it more believable. I was really glad that both women found happiness.

The Virgin Blue was much harder to enjoy and get into, I did finish it but would not read it again. I found Ella hard to like.

Angela

The Glasspainters Daughter

I enjoyed this book, it would be my pick for the better read for the June/July reads. I found Fran a likeable character, though wanted to shake her when she was with Ben as it was obvious he wasn't right for her. I enjoyed all the discriptions of the music, singing and stain glass process - there was a workhop in town here last weekend and if I had been able to go I would have to see what it was all about.

Michelle

Glad you enjoyed it Michelle, I thought it was an excellent book and would recommend it to anyone.