Join us for an evening with Tracy Chevalier, the globally bestselling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, as we celebrate the paperback publication of her latest novel The Glassmaker.
Venice, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here – like the glass the island’s maestros spend their lives learning to control.
Women are not meant to work with glass, but Orsola Rosso flouts convention to save her family from ruin. She works in secret, knowing her creations must be perfect to be accepted by men. But perfection may take a lifetime.
Skipping like a stone through the centuries, we follow Orsola as she hones her craft through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss.
Her creations will adorn the necks of empresses and courtesans from Paris to Vienna – but will she ever earn the respect of those closest to her?
Tracy Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is vivid, inventive, spellbinding: a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as their glass. We look forward to welcoming her to Oswestry during Independent Bookshop Week.
Reviews
‘A triumph… a brilliant idea carried out with confidence and brio and a deep love of an extraordinary city. The ingenuity of the time-skipping is beyond admiration’ PHILIP PULLMAN
‘Spellbinding…. Chevalier at her fabulous best. A rich, vivid and gently enchanting novel’ ELIF SHAFAK
‘Ingenious… an absorbing story’ THE TIMES, Book of the Year
‘Sparkling… a triumph of craft’ OBSERVER
‘A spectacular feat, crafted by a maestra at the top of her game’ SPECTATOR
‘As finely wrought as a dazzling Murano bead… reaffirm[s Chevalier’s] status as one of the reigning queens of historical fiction’ INDEPENDENT
‘A time-skipping Venetian tour de force’ GUARDIAN
‘Meticulously researched and evoking the beauty of the Venice lagoon, the story challenges and transports the reader through time and place’ PHILIPPA GREGORY
Tickets: £15 (Admits One & includes a signed paperback copy of The Glassmaker)