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Burning Bright

tracy chevalier

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Tracy Chevalier, author of the international bestseller Girl With a Pearl Earring, returns with another brilliantly rendered historical tale set in the waning days of eighteenth-century London.

Poet, artist, and printer William Blake works in obscurity as England is rocked by the shock waves of the French Revolution. Next door, the Kellaway family has just moved in, and country boy Jem Kellaway strikes up a tentative friendship with street–savvy Maggie Butterfield.

As their stories intertwine with Blake’s, the two children navigate the confusing and exhilarating path to adolescence, and inspire the poet to create the work that enshrined his genius.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20,2007
Places
london england, 

This edition

Format
320 pages, Hardcover
Published
March 20, 2007 by Dutton
ISBN
9780525949787
ASIN
052594978X
Language
English
Characters More characters
  • William Blake

    William Blake

    William Blake (1757 - 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has be...

  • Jem Kellaway

    Jem Kellaway

    ...

  • Maggie Butterfield

    Maggie Butterfield

    ...

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About the author

Profile Image for tracy chevalier

tracy chevalier

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Born:
19 October 1962 in Washington, DC. Youngest of 3 children. Father was a photographer for The Washington Post.

Childhood:
Nerdy. Spent a lot of time lying on my bed reading. Favorite authors back then: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madeleine L'Engle, Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Joan Aiken, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander. Book I would have taken to a desert island: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

Education:
BA in English, Oberlin College, Ohio, 1984. No one was surprised that I went there; I was made for such a progressive, liberal place.

MA in creative writing, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England, 1994. There's a lot of debate about whether or not you can be taught to write. Why doesn't anyone ask that of professional singers, painters, dancers? That year forced me to write all the time and take it seriously.

Geography:
Moved to London after graduating from Oberlin in 1984. I had studied for a semester in London and thought it was a great place, so came over for fun, expecting to go back to the US after 6 months to get serious. I'm still in London, and still not entirely serious. Even have dual citizenship – though I keep the American accent intact.

Family:
1 English husband + 1 English son.

Career:
Before writing, was a reference book editor, working on encyclopedias about writers. (Yup, still nerdy.) Learned how to research and how to make sentences better. Eventually I wanted to fix my own sentences rather than others', so I quit and did the MA.

Writing:
Talked a lot about becoming a writer as a kid, but actual pen to paper contact was minimal. Started writing short stories in my 20s, then began first novel, The Virgin Blue, during the MA year. With Girl With a Pearl Earring (written in 1998), I became a full-time writer.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.1 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
33(33%)
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39(39%)
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28(28%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
sora-to-hoshi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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A fascinating journey to 18th century London and the English countryside at the time of the French Revolution. The book is a slight departure from the other Chevalier novels I have read, as the focus is on 2 different historical figures - William Blake and Philip Astley, and their interactions with the fictional characters of the book. As always, the author made you feel as if you were living in that time period, and it was not an idyllic time! The book definitely highlighted the hardships of the common people at the time, and their struggles just to keep a roof overhead and feed their families. It also told the sad story of how quickly children of that age were forced to "grow up" and work in factories or at a trade so that they could add to their families' income, often with long hours in hazardous occupations. I thoroughly the book.
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scxrvd
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I really enjoyed this one. It can be read on several levels and if you have a saga reader in your family who only goes for story rather than depths, they will like this just as much as someone exploring all the nuances about innocence and experience. A satisfying read.
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Elrataun
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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It was intriguing at first but it quickly lost all point. The ending was also very underwhelming, I'd have loved 20-30 more pages to wrap things up nicely. I think I'll be getting rid of my copy after my August wrap up.
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flottings
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I picked this book up at Goodwill because I remember, or thought I remembered, liking "Girl with a Pearl Earring." It's been a long time since I read that.

"Burning Bright" takes place over 5 months in England in 1792. The Kellaway family, attempting to leave a tragic loss behind, pick up and move from bucolic Dorchester to busy London with their two children, Maise and Jem. They struggle and cope in equal measure, and the children grow up quickly, albeit not always quickly enough. The family forms friendships and comes to terms with their new life.

The book is an interesting read if you want a great description of life at the time- I could almost smell the coal fog in the air. What it lacked most of the time was tension which made it a bit of a slog until the end. I'll probably leave her books to others to enjoy.
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ansamant
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This was a good story, but didn't have the most captivating plot. It took a while to get into it and still I felt like I was waiting for more. The characters were good, if a little under-developed. I would have liked to know more about Mr. Blake and his "revolutionary" ties. I would also like a little more emotion from Jem and Maisie. This book was not as good as "Girl with a Pearl Earring", so I was a little disappointed. I was left thinking "that was it?" when I finished. It got better in the end, but I still wasn't totally hooked. A quick and entertaining enough read. I still look forward to reading other books by Chevalier.
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Nirax
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Ho finito L'innocenza

Per ora il romanzo meno riuscito che abbia letto, tra quelli della Chevalier.
Il mio preferito è Strane creature, anche se l’ho conosciuta grazie alla La ragazza con l'orecchino di perla.
Anche Falling Angels, quello sulle suffragette, mi è piaciuto, ma qui la presenza di William Blake è una forzatura inutile. I 3 ragazzi avrebbero potuto vivere accanto a chiunque e il romanzo si sarebbe sviluppato nello stesso modo. Ha più impatto storico il signor Astley e il suo circo delle incisioni di Blake, che si muove sullo sfondo come uno zio eccentrico più che come un poeta. Persino l’eco della rivoluzione francese è debole.
Francamente mi aspettavo un contesto storico più dettagliato, più accurato, come mi ero abituata nei romanzi precedenti.
Non che la storia di Jem, Maggie e Maisie sia brutta, per carità: ma è una storia neutra, senza alti né bassi, piacevole per passare un pomeriggio rilassante e nulla più.
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pumpkinnmayo
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Having read several other of Tracy Chevalier’s novels and thoroughly enjoyed them, I was hoping that this would be my ch the same. Unfortunately, for me it wasn’t anywhere near as good as Girl With a Pearl Earring, or Falling Angels. It wasn’t terrible though. Chevalier writes beautifully, and has a wonderful way of describing the surroundings of the story, which really helps you to envisage yourself there. It just seemed to lack an actual plot.
The storyline focuses mainly on three teenage children, their relationships, and their transition from childhood into adulthood. A supporting character in the book is the famous poet and artist William Blake. The children spy on him to begin with, as he appears to be strange, yet fascinating to them. As they get to know him, they discover him to be a talented, warm, friendly, intelligent man, who they can rely upon and who they trust.
Phillip Astley’s circus/amphitheatre lends itself as a main location, and topic in the book. Chevalier does a wonderful job of describing the sights and sounds of the 18th century circus, which almost allows you to believe you’re there. She breathes life into Lambeth and the circus performer’s lives.
Despite this, I just found the story to be weak, and in total honesty, I was bored. I think largely this was due to the complete lack of a plot.
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otaku86
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Second reading. I guess I'm rereading all of Tracy Chevalier - and reading what I have not already read.
I had forgotten most of this one. Not sure why. But perhaps because there were again many characters to keep up with at the beginning - and partly also because William Blake is really not the main character, but a sort of fulcrum around which Jem and Maggie and their lives in London revolve. Or perhaps it's the unusual character of Blake himself - a dissenter and an unbending supporter of the revolution in France who nevertheless is detached from the quotidian by his visions of another world of humans caught in the tension between opposites - "Not just light, but dark. Not just at peace, but at war. Not just innocent, but experienced."

The innocent Kellaway family arrives from Dorset and meets the experienced Butterfield family; innocents Jem and Maisie meet Maggie, the girl who knows London with all its cracks and crannies and all its people on the make for whatever they can get out of each other.

Jem perceives that Mr. Blake embodies the opposites - "distant yet close in his attention, an adult and yet childlike." Jem has something of this in himself, and Maggie's hard shell begins to crack as Jem notices her inner self - "He liked watching her when she didn't know it, so happy and absorbed."

London is a major character too.
"Westminster Bridge itself was a shadowy hump over which two rows of lamplights marched. Beyond them London hung like a heavy black coat.'
"It (the Thames) reminded him of a herd of cows in the dark, breathing heavily and squelching their hooves in the mud. He took a deep breath -- like cows, the river smelled of a combination of fresh grass and excrement, of what came in and what went out of the city."

Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a wonderful setting for voice and oboe of ten of Blake's poems. It's worth seeking out. I always wanted to sing it but never managed to.
This poem is among them:
"I wander through each chartered street Near where the chartered Thames does flow And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man In every infant's cry of fear In every voice, in every ban The mind-forged manacles I hear."

And of course, "Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" Who or what is the tiger? I have some ideas now.

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