Det er jo altid skønt at læse en bog, når der er inkluderet sætninger på fransk, og jeg forstår det! Jeg lærte også en del om fransk historie (både om religionskrigene og den overtro, der lå under (ha...) områdets religion.

Der var mange ting, der skete meget hurtigt; som om alt for meget skulle ske på for kort tid (men det er nok bare fordi, jeg er vant til fantasyserier, hvor handling og udvikling er spredt ud over flere sider i stedet for to handlinger på én bogs plads). Især i Ellas forhold til de to mænd...

Der var også flere steder, hvor jeg undrede mig over, at nutidens storyline vidste noget meget specifikt om fortidens storyline, selvom det ikke burde være noget, der kunne blive overleveret i 'naturlige' forhistoriske levn.

Andre ting - som drømme og hårfarve og lignende - er simpelthen for tilfældigt til at kunne være realistisk. Hvis det havde været historisk fantasy fiktion, så ville det fungere helt fint, men det er det ikke, så det fungerer ikke helt fint. Den eneste mulige forklaring er reinkarnation af Isabelle i Ella.

Jeg elskede idéen om, hvad der skete (samme sted, samme familie, samme navne, opklaring af et mysterie...), og jeg forventede ikke det store af bogen, så jeg er tilfreds med at have læst den :).

Fili rossi e azzurri percorrono questo romanzo e uniscono la vita di due donne vissute a cinquecento anni di distanza. Fili che si alternano in due storie parallele e che si intrecciano in modo sempre più fitto, fino ad arrivare ad un finale sorprendente. Fili rossi come i capelli delle protagoniste, come il sangue di vittime innocenti e di aborti, come i capelli della Madonna in un’antica edicola, come il fuoco di camini che nascondono segreti. Fili azzurri come il mantello della Madonna, come lo sfondo di sogni ricorrenti, come la camicia di un nuovo amore, come il vestito di una bambina vissuta cinquecento anni fa.
Tracy Chevalier non mi delude mai: di questa autrice avevo già letto anni fa “La ragazza con l’orecchino di perla” e “La dama e l’unicorno” e ho sempre apprezzato il suo stile semplice e raffinato e l’ incredibile capacità di rendere estremamente vivo il passato, con descrizioni precise e personaggi emozionanti.
In questo suo primo romanzo Tracy Chevalier si è ispirata, per una parte della trama, al periodo storico della Riforma protestante, mentre l’altra parte è ambientata ai giorni nostri: i fatti storici e i luoghi citati sono reali, mentre i personaggi sono di pura fantasia. L’ambientazione è tra Francia e Svizzera.
Un romanzo storico coinvolgente ed emozionante, una lettura leggera ma non banale, un libro che sembra un dipinto.

I respect Chevalier's concept for her books -- taking a famous painting and imagining an entire story around it. Now, after a while, I think this concept might get a bit formulaic and redundant. In this book, I can see that she is actively trying to avoid just such a situation. Rather than imagining how the portrait came to be, as in "Girl with a Pearl Earring", Chevalier instead concentrates solely on the girl in the portrait and tries to imagine her life. The pacing of the book was a bit faster than "Pearl Earring," in my opinion a good thing for the plot, but the book crescendoed too late. The reader already figured out the resolution, but the author tried to keep the tension going an extra 10 pages or so, which didn't really work for me. Additionally, I'm just not a big fan of using pastlife experiences as a major plot mover. It simply seems like a cheap way to pull disparate plot lines together rather than using talent to weave them into a coherent plot. So, overall, wasn't a big fan.

Okay, maybe 1.5 stars is more fair. Anyway, this book annoyed the heck out of me! This is my third Chevalier novel(also read "Girl w/ a Pearl Earring" and "The Lady and the Unicorn) and enjoyed the first two--this is her first novel and I think it shows.
There are 2 main characters in this book--both women, but living centuries apart. Ella, the present-day character, is an American ex-pat living in France with her husband, and Isabelle is her distant ancestor living in France during the time of the Huguenots. My main problem with the novel is that Ella is just plain annoying--selfish, self-centered and self-absorbed. I'm supposed to sympathize with her because oh how women have suffered at the hands of men(including Isabelle, mostly b/c she had the "misfortune" of being born with red hair and having a fascination for the Virgin Mary in Protestant France--but that's another long story)! But boy, does she make it hard.
In the end, I finished the novel b/c I was curious about what happened to Isabelle. So obviously this book wasn't bad enough to stop reading altogether but also not good enough to recommend to anyone.

3.25|5

I have read one previous book by Tracy Chevalier which was Burning Bright and I definitely enjoyed it. This book I would probably give 2.5 stars to if I was being more accurate about my feelings. It wasn't as in depth as I would have liked and some parts were a bit vague like what happened to the little girl. In general though I did enjoy it. I liked all the French bits but I found the central character a bit unsympathetic for my liking. After all her husband didn't actually do anything wrong. Anyway without giving any spoilers I could tell this was a first novel but this author can write. It was just a few pacing and depth issues but nothing wrong with the writing at all. I will read more from her.

Such a brilliant novel...I loved it

An enjoyable historical travelling experience with some family issues, romance and religion

This first in a long line of novels by an extraordinarily inventive and resourceful storyteller visits France of now and 400 years ago.

"The Virgin Blue" is two stories in one. Or possibly two sides of the same story.

In one story, set in modern day, American Ella Turner is a midwife studying for re-licensing after relocating with her husband to France. She investigates her ancestral roots for something to do and becomes intrigued in both her family history and the local librarian, Jean-Paul.

The other story is that of Isabelle du Moulin, a French Protestant woman who marries into the Tournier family and who escapes persecution by the Catholics by fleeing into Switzerland.

The stories of Ella and Isabelle run in parallel and it's not hard to see that Isabelle is a proxy for Ella or vice versa, what with Ella's hair turning red as Isabelle's does, both of them being midwives, and both being married to less than ideal husbands. There's a "wolfish" love interest in both stories too (the double-quotes are for the grimace that accompanies the word).

I read the book in one sitting and found it to be highly satisfying, in the way that well-written, entertaining detective fiction is, even if you can see the ending from a way off.

I suppose it's inevitable that I compare this book with Chevalier's more well-known Girl with a Pearl Earring. I enjoyed this one more because of a clearer structure and quicker pace.

On the other hand, I can also spot a fatal flaw in trying to make the ending too clear, in making the narrator of one story the author of the other. It ruins that lovely sense of distance that's created in Isabelle's story and the effect of having the two stories exist simultaneously in time. I'd like very much to cut the Epilogue out of every edition and have the uneasy thought of Isabelle's ending jar in the reader's mind with the happy satisfaction of Ella's story.

Oh this was a credulity stretch! Beautifully written but borders on fantastic. The audio version was well done.

I have enjoyed this author's books for their historical content, but this one missed the mark for me unfortunately.