I'm surprised at how much I liked this and how tragic it got. Very well written.

Turbūt kiekvienam vieną dieną kyla noras paieškoti savo šaknų. O jeigu jos siekia XVI amžių ir protėviai gyveno Prancūzijoje. Taip nutiko ir knygos veikėjai Elai, kuri iš ramaus amerikietiško gyvenimo persikėlė į Prancūziją ir iš Turner pavirto į Turnjė. Pasirodo ši pavardė slepia kur kas daugiau nei Ela tikėjosi.


Na, o XVI amžiuje Izabelė išteka, nes laukiasi nuo įtakingos kaimo šeimos sūnaus. Izabelė yra protestantė ir kartu turi išskirtinį bruožą - ji raudonplaukė. Mergina kuria namus kartu su vyru ir vaikučiais, tačiau protestantus pradeda persekioti ir šeimai tenka viską palikus bėgti. Kass sieja dvi šias moteris?


Rašytoja įpynė ne tik istorinius faktus apie Prancūzijos hugenotus, bet ir šiek tiek mistikos. Elos sapnai, mėlyno audeklo simbolika ir tam tikri ženklai žadina smalsumą. Atrodo dviejų moterų gyvenimai susijungia per šimtmečius ir jos savotiškai bendrai sprendžia savo problemas, kurios pasirodo gana panašios. 


Man patiko: net dvi laiko linijos puikiai suderėjo ir vieną kitą papildė. Manau, kad tikrai patiks istorinių romanų gerbėjams. Nors čia ir faktų nėra labai daug, bes XVI amžiaus įvykiai papasakoti gan autentiškai.

O carte captivantă, care te ține în suspans. Autoarea reușește să efectueze o conexiune superbă dintre trecut și prezent. Două femei, două destine, patru secole distanță unite și inundate de un albastru pur.
Ella cu soțul se mută în Franța, unde se simte izolată și străină. Fiind tulburată de un vis straniu dorește să efectueze cercetări despre strămoșii săi francezi. Descoperirele din trecut îi schimbă viziunea asupra prezentului.

Two women face life-changing challenges in Tracy Chevalier's "The Virgin Blue."

Isabelle, whose hair changes color to auburn, the supposed color of the Virgin Mary's hair, becomes La Rouse during the time of the Reformation and watches as her community turns away from the Virgin's veneration. All the family's beliefs are challenged, especially as Isabelle's sister and then her mother die. Her brothers leave to fight in a war, never to return. She tells her father that she will marry and she and her husband will live with him and help with the farm, but the man that she marries, Etienne, is from a family that her father hates. Soon the Reformation comes to their community and they are forced to flee for their lives.

Four hundred years later, Ella Turner travels to France and moves into a small town with her husband, Rick. Ella is at first enthusiastic about the town but she is surprised at behavior of its citizens and so, while brushing up on her French with hopes of becoming a midwife, she is soon involved in looking into her family history.

Two women both facing challenges of culture, perception and belief. As Chevalier weaves their two stories together, it creates a full, rich tale of a family history. While I found it interesting how different these women are, they both seek a place of their own, a feeling of safety and sureness. A very good story.

2.5

I really loved this book in a lot of ways, but the sense of inevitability, that feeling of descending tragedy that cannot be averted, was so strong and, of course, correct. We were looking at events that had already occurred and those could not be changed. But when we were experiencing them in a present tense I really wished that Isabelle could have found a way out of the life and tragedies that were here destiny, especially for Marie. I was just sick about it. Also found myself in favor of Jean-Paul, heedless of Rick, which is an unusual stance for me. I guess I was so caught up in the destiny of the relationship. I wanted to kill Hannah and Etienne and if I was Isabelle I may have.

It has similar flavour as Tracy Chevalier's other books but don't isn't quite as great. Still is a good book and I liked that we looked at two different women through time but I wasn't mesmerized by the story and I didn't quite like the end with Ella.

4.5 stars

This book gets a pretty easy 4.5 stars from me. I'm a sucker for a good historical fiction with a female character researching her connection to her family's past, which is the basic sum of the plot. That said, this book had a lot going for it aside from my natural affinity for the plot line.

I will admit that a lot of my historical fiction reading has been by certain authors and set in certain areas, which may make the book more novel to me than to a more widely read historical fiction fan, but the setting and historical backdrops were both somewhat unfamiliar to me. I've read books set in or around Paris, but not in the French countryside, as this is. I thought she did a nice job of painting a picture of what life might be like for an American woman moving to a small town in France. Picturesque and lovely, but also judgmental and nosy. I guess the judgmental and nosy part is universal in small towns. The other main setting of the book is the mountains of Switzerland, which was also new to me.

I was wholly unfamiliar with the persecution of the Huguenots by the Catholics in that time and place, aside from having heard of St Bartholowmew's Massacre in passing. The book really fed my nerdy side with the historical references and explanations given on a subject I knew little about and took an immediate interest in.

Trying to put aside my bias towards these sorts of books, I still feel it was a very strong story. There was good pacing with new story lines developing through the whole book, leading up to what I found to be rather a surprise ending. I thought the writing was very good and was descriptive without being over the top.

My overall opinion of this book is that it would be a good choice for someone thinking of dipping a toe into the historical fiction genre. I feel like it has a faster pace and less background historical information than some I have read, which I take away .5 star for, but would make it a good foray into the genre for someone new to historical fiction.

Apparently, this was Tracy Chevalier's first novel, quite different from most of her other ones. I have read two other novels by this author, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Lady and the Unicorn", and have enjoyed both very much. This author has a style that appeals to me, simple and straightfoward but with a beauty of its own in the way she captures the characters that compose her stories.

Although I liked "The Virgin Blue", reading it in two days, I ended up fairly confused as to what had happened and why in some particular occasions. I couldn't understand the character's motivations, perhaps because I did not fully compreend the historical background in which part of it took place and what beliefs the people held. I was lost, at times, not understanding why some people reacted or acted the way they did and though some things are explained, many other questions were left unanswered in my mind. In fact, the ending was somewhat abrupt, at least where the past is concerned, as well as some of the relationships portrayed, which I thought moved too fast.

Эта книга, как мне кажется, довольно хорошо смотрится в сегменте развлекательной литературы "на один раз". Добротная такая книжка, которую не стыдно пробежать глазами для разгрузки мозгов. Понятные, хорошо выписанные образы двух главных героинь (Эллы, живущей в 20 веке, и Изабель, которой довелось ощутить кошмар войны между гугенотами и католиками во Франции 16 века) - это явный плюс книги. Читается "Дева в голубом" легко, сюжет держит в напряжении, хотя справедливости ради стоит заметить, все предсказуемо и местами даже банально. Однако основным недостатком для меня стало отсутствие в этой книге Цели. "Ну и?" - хочется спросить после того, как перевернута последняя страница. Что же хотел сказать автор? Просто рассказать нам, что 16 век - это все еще, не смотря на официальное христианство, век варварства и мракобесия? Вроде бы и так ясно... Я не вынесла для себя из этой книги ровным счетом ничего. Думать тут не над чем - в одно ухо вошло, в другое вышло. Колебалась между нейтральной оценкой и низкой положительной, но все же, из-за того, что нет желания эту книгу никому рекомендовать, ограничимся тремя звездочками.

6 / 10

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 always enjoy a good French setting and this book conveys the challenges of living in France as an outsider. The book runs in two stories; the story of Isabelle and her challenges of living in a time when the Huguenots were persecuted by the Catholics and Ella Turner who tracks down these relatives and connections from the time. I found her story slightly more interesting as she battles with marriage difficulties.