Title : Girl with a pearl earring
Author : Tracy Chevalier
Genre : Historical fiction
Publisher : Plume
Pages : 256
Rating : 4/5

The Girl with a Pearl Earring is Tracy Chevalier’s second book. In it she tells of a painting by the famous Johannes Vermeer. The subject of the painting and the heroine of the novel is a maid in Vermeer’s household. Forced into this job by penury at home, Griet must serve at the Vermeer homestead. There she develops emotional bonds, some of animosity, such as with Vermeer’s jealous wife and spiteful daughter, and some of limited understanding, such as with Maria Thins, Vermeer’s mother-in-law, whose home it is.

It is made clear to us, the readers, that Griet has strong feelings for Vermeer, although she is actively being courted by the local butcher’s son Pieter. While Griet’s pragmatic family pressurizes her to accept Pieter’s proposal (“the family of a butcher will never go hungry”), our dreamy heroine has other ideas. Vermeer himself is a shadowy figure, lost in his artistic vision, appearing to be indifferent not only to Griet, but also oblivious to anyone’s plight but his own.

Vermeer does come to notice and like Griet however, even granting her “priviliges” such as cleaning his studio and grinding his paints, jobs which cause much tension in the household, since even Vermeer’s wife Catharina is not allowed to do them. However Griet must work her “thing” with the Master out on her own, especially when he decides to paint her. Will she, a lowly maid, be able to realize her heart’s dream ?

This was a very interesting, spare, light read. The plot is well-developed and Chevalier tells it with such simplicity and such nuance that one is drawn in. Unlike her second novel “Remarkable Creatures” which draws it’s drama from real events, “Girl with a Pearl Earring” has a wistfulness which comes from unmet expectations and hopes. Beautifully written and engagingly told, this novel displays Chevalier’s skilled story-telling and great attention to detail.

I’d come across this book, when it first released, but had ignored it believing the subject to not be to my taste. I’ve now read it only after I read and liked Chevalier’s “Remarkable Creatures”, and consider myself richer for it. Highly recommended.