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tracy chevalier

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‘Vividly imagined’ Sunday Telegraph‘Sex and death meet again in [a] marvellous evocation of Edwardian England’ Daily MailThe girl reminded me of my favourite chocolates, whipped hazelnut creams, and I knew just from looking at her that I wanted her for my best friend.Queen Victoria is dead. In January 1901, the day after her passing, two very different families visit neighbouring graves in a London cemetery. The traditional Waterhouses revere the late Queen where the Colemans have a more modern outlook, but both families are appalled by the friendship that springs up between their respective daughters.As the girls grow up, their world changes almost beyond cars are replacing horses, electric lighting is taking over from gas, and emancipation is fast approaching, to the delight of some and the dismay of others…

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,2001
Places
london england, 

This edition

Format
384 pages, Hardcover
Published
February 1, 2002 by List
ISBN
9783471772539
ASIN
3471772537
Language
German
Characters More characters

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About the author

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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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Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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35(35%)
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100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
snipsnip
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Falling Angels was a disappointing follow-up to The Girl with the Pearl Earring. None of the subtlety or plausibility and I felt through the whole thing that Chavalier merely used the novel as a way of showing off how much research she had done on the women’s suffrage movement.
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CallMeKurisuchan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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در دنیای واقعی کارکتری مثل "لیوی" یا بقول خودش "لاوینیا" فقط در دنیای بچگانه ش دوستداشتنیه، تازه اونهم زمانیکه جنبه های منفیشو نادیده بگیریم اما وقتی بزرگ میشه تبدیل میشه به یکی مثل "کیتی کولمن". امیدوارم دو گروه "روشنفکرها" و "روشنفکرنماها" دست از بزرگ کردن بیخودی کارکترهایی مثل کیتی کولمن و خانم بوواری بردارند! آدمای خودخواه و بی مسئولیتی که اطرافیانشونو ذله میکنن. اگر کسی خلاف این فکر میکنه چطوره نظرشو درمورد داشتن یه همچین مادر، خواهر یا همسری بپرسیم؟
کتاب حرف خاصی برای گفتن نداشت! یه ماجرای خیلی معمولی از زندگی یکنواخت و معمولی دوتا خانواده ی کاملا معمولی! نویسنده همه سعیشو بکار گرفت تا یکم هیجان چاشنی کارش کنه اما چیزی که از کاردراومد صرفا یه تراژدی بود و بس
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kohitsuji
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Set in Edwardian London, Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier takes place from January 1901 to May 1910 and was a joy to read.

This historical novel confidently covers themes of mourning, mourning etiquette, class and the suffragette movement with an engaging and natural writing style.

The chapters are narrated in the first person by several of the main characters, although each character picks up the thread of the story and continues with it, rather than re-living the same events from their point of view.

Each of the voices are unique, making it impossible to confuse the characters.

My favourite character by far was Simon Field, the gravedigger's son and the conversations that take place in the cemetery were some of my favourite parts of the book.

I recommend Falling Angels for those interested in the mourning etiquette of the Victorian and Edwardian periods and readers looking for something a little different.
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violroll
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier was a book set in Victorian England after the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901. In keeping with the tradition of public mourning, two families visiting neighboring graves become acquainted as each in horror sees that while one gravesite has an urn, the other has an ostentatious angel reaching out. The Coleman family and the Waterhouse family each have a five-year-old daughter and Maude and Lavinia become instant friends as they steel away to explore the cemetery and meeting Simon, the gravedigger's son.

This book transpires over a ten-year period during the height of Victorian England complete with gaslights and hansom cabs. The setting was exquisite as one could vividly imagine the scenes invoked. These two families become more entwined over the next ten years when the book ends with the death of King Edward.

There are many points of view as we go through the lives of these families during the ten years between these historic reigns. At times I was riveted to the narrative and at other times, it seemed tedious. All in all there is a heartbreaking story in these pages. I have read other books by this author and I will continue to follow her work.
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AMVP
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Thanks to her trustworthy research, I always learn a bit of history from Tracy Chevalier stories. In this book you will learn about mourning etiquette, grave digging and women's suffrage in early 1900s England.

This one didn't enfold me in a dream-like atmosphere as Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Virgin Blue did but it was still a captivating read.
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_corridors
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Ambientato nel primo decennio del Novecento, e per buona parte nel suggestivo cimitero londinese di Highgate (considerato dagli alto borghesi come un qualsiasi luogo di passeggio e di incontro), questo romanzo polifonico ci presenta una galleria di intensi ritratti femminili, incredibilmente realistici e variegati, dalle giovani e anziane signore inchiodate alla rigida morale vittoriana, passando per le più emancipate, fino alle audaci suffragette pronte a finire dietro alle sbarre in nome della libera scelta.
Bellissimo e atmosferico romanzo storico.
Una sorpresa inaspettata
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farhvt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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This book grabbed me from the very first page. Set at the turn of the century, the story takes place amidst the women's suffrage movement. Gender issues are also noted, whereas the man was the head of the household and "handled" the wife.
Each character speaks individually, allowing the reader to listen and decide for themselves where to put the importance of each character. The voice of the youngest children is included, as is the maid, cook, grave digger to the "gubner."
Issues of class are also raised in this story from the servants and grave diggers to those of the most forward thinking family.
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JustZer01
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Set in the first decade of the 20th century. Two middle-class London families have neighbouring plots in a cemetery. While the two couples are far from being soulmates, their fates are brought together by the cemetery and the friendship of two of their children, with catastrophic results.



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