THE GLASSMAKER
BY: TRACY CHEVALIER
This exquisite newest spellbinding literary fiction novel written by Tracy Chevalier was a reading experience that I absolutely loved. There is a glossary for some of the Italian and Venetian words including extreme slang at the back of the book. I think it would have been more helpful to place it in the beginning of this fine work of art. There are some Italian or Venetian words that give the translated meaning in English in the beginning. However, there are many Italian words throughout the text that made this writing somewhat choppy. I got used to it but it had the effects of me not feeling as intimately involved with the narrative. This might be the author's intent to create authenticity to the setting. The pacing is slow which worked out to be fine as I knew it is literary fiction. There is a unique way this main family named Rosso, who are Glass makers on the island of Murano, Italy where in 1486, it is revered for its glass blowing. The Rosso family inhabited roughly five hundred years trading their artisan craft in an opulent Venice. By using the imagery of skipping a stone across the surface of the water to symbolize how many centuries have passed in the plot juxtaposed by informing how many decades or years the Rosso family has aged throughout a normal lifespan. This separates the sections and introduces the reader to this family of Glass makers as they move through different eras aging normally. The passage of time invites the reader to experience this family to age a smaller finite number of years and how they adjust through heartbreaking loss, plague, Napoleon's siege and how it affects them across the author's suggested number of centuries. Aging normally across five centuries only applies to the Rosso family and everyone who matters to them to be able to still be alive up to the present day. It's quite clever to skip a stone across the water and then seamlessly move this family throughout the changes taking place through history and witness how they adapt to the challenges of real world events. This sounds confusing and I've never read anything like this without knowing ahead of time that this writing device is used to move the plot forward unless it's categorized as Science Fiction or Fantasy which this isn't. It was unexpected but executed far better than my description and all I can tell you is somehow it works which is impressive.
I was first introduced over 20 years ago, to Tracy Chevalier's phenomenal novel called, "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Who hasn't heard of that masterpiece? I've read other works by her but that in my mind is my favorite. In fact, I'm planning on immediately rereading that to see if I still think it's as brilliant as I thought when I first read it. That iconic work seemed to set the trend for a new trailblazing fiction about art history that is still done today.
Orsola Rosso is the eldest girl in the family that earns their living making glass objects such as goblets, chandeliers, and bowls and she has two brothers. Their father dies who is the expert in an accident while working creating a chandelier. A piece of glass gets lodged in his neck which he bleeds to death. Of her two brothers Marco is the most outspoken and driven by ambition to take over with a young man who is a better trained employee who dies during the plague. Marco designs glass objects that aren't as up to the Rossos standard quality because of his inexperience and it is an art that's perfected the more it's practiced.
In Murano there are other family businesses that do the same thing but these are secrets that are closely guarded in each establishment because it's a highly competitive hand made skill. By producing these coveted glass pieces are how they support themselves by selling them. A woman in a rival family of glass makers helps Orsola learn how to make glass beads. Women aren't allowed to work with the men in the shops so Orsola practices making her glass beads whenever she isn't cleaning, cooking and doing the housework. Her mother who is named Laura gives birth to a daughter named Stella. The glass beads are not made the same way that the glass objects are made in the shop with the men and Marco thinks Orsola's work with beads is foolish.
When Marco goes to Venice to sell his glassware he doesn't return which sends Orsola and her brother to search for him. They eventually find him through a fisherman named Antonio. He wants to be paid for his efforts of tracking down Marco in return for a position learning how to apprentice in the Rossos shop making glass objects. Over time Marco doesn't help Antonio learn the trade and Orsola and Antonio fall in love. He makes her a glass dolphin while they grow closer until Antonio moves to Prague. Orsola doesn't want to leave Murano and Antonio doesn't want to stay.
Meanwhile Orsola sells her beads with the same merchant in Venice that she met during the search for Marco, Before Antonio left the family shop was shut down and the plague struck and the family is quarantined. Antonio is not boarded up with the Rossos and Orsola lowers a basket of beads and that is how the family survives forty days by Antonio trading her beads for food which is scarce.
After the plague passes Orsola keeps selling her glass beads to the merchant in Venice. She becomes quite talented and she experiments with different colors and doesn't earn what the men in the shops do, but her glass beads are a steady income for her when she can get a chance to make them. She still is doing all of the household work while taking care of her younger sister and Marco's baby. Marco's wife died from the plague so Orsola devotes her spare time designing a variety of her glass beads. She ends up marrying a quiet man named Stefano who she doesn't love at first. He joined the Rossos glass shop from the same family business who taught her to make the glass beads. Antonio sends her different colored glass dolphins that he secretly sends through a slave that operates their Gondolier.
This is just a small sample of this epic tale of everything that happens as another stone is skipped across the water and a new century is entered and world events affect Murano and Venice. The family ages with each new century normally. The water and travel by Gondolier changes as bridges are built but the Rosso family must accommodate different time periods. Each new century brings change with what is going on in the world. The family extends and grows and this was a great novel that is unique and unforgettable. It's appeal to me is because I love Tracy Chevalier and when I saw it was about glass blown pieces having to do with art and I was sold. I own some expensive pieces and I'm always tempted to buy more. It was fascinating to learn the methods of how these stunning works of art were created over the centuries to the present day. They are more available in certain boutiques world wide but Murano and Venice come alive in this vivid portrait that Tracy Chevalier is so adept at creating a magnificent well researched dazzling new novel. I highly, highly recommend this to everyone.
Publication Date: June 18, 2024! AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE NOW! THE NEWEST TERRIFIC NOVEL BY TRACY CHEVALIER FEATURING ARTISTIC GLASS MAKERS TAKING PLACE IN MURANO AND VENICE, ITALY!
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
$24.45
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jul 9
In Stock
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
From the Publisher
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
