Such an inventive and intriguing timeline of one family, whose ages are just a little older through the centuries to show the changing mores of the times. It's an homage to glassmaking and the Murano glass dynasties.

This story revolves around Orsola Russo and her family of Murano glassmakers. The book has an interesting structure time wise. It begins in 1486 when Venice is the center of trade and Murano glass is in high demand throughout the world. Orsola longs to be a glassmaker but this is not what women do. The author then picks up the Russo family and a few key characters and transports them along a timeline to 1574. We see Venice, Murano and the glassmakers in a new time frame but the characters are only a bit older. So their story simply continues, making allowances for changes in society. These leaps in time continue to the present day. It makes for an interesting read and a clever way to cover the broad scope of Murano glassmaking history.

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4.5/5

A chronicle of glass making in Murano (still known as the center of glass!) as told through the life of Orsola Rosso — the eldest daughter of a glass blowing family. Orsola wants to work with glass herself, but it’s 1486 and the Renaissance hasn’t quite reached the stage of promoting social changes for women. The story uses the (very) unusual contrivance of allowing Orsola and those in her immediate orbit to age slowly while time for the world at large gallops by. While the “action” starts in 1486 and ends in the present day, Orsola only ages from nine to her late sixties. While this device is explained (poetically) in the prolog, I didn’t really get it so I’m hoping that I can help you avoid bafflement by stating it here with less skill but more clarity :-)

Orsola’s life embodies the personal (love, marriage, and children in a large extended family rife with personalities), the political (Venice shifting from commercial center to Austrian occupied territory to part of a United Italy to tourist center) , and the business (Guild control to competitive pressures to tourist-driven). She and her family go through the Plague (and later Covid!), two world wars, and the changing mores of an evolving Europe as the Renaissance gave way to the Age of Enlightenment followed by whatever our current age is destined to be called. I learned a lot about Italian history — details that I had learned in the past now integrated and brought to life in this story of artisans buffeted by the constantly shifting trends over time. The history became so much more real to me told through the lens of this particular family.

I give this a four star rating because for my taste there was a little more description than I like, though that same description may fascinate others.

Nobody excels at writing historical fiction like Tracy Chevalier. Especially when writing of the arts; be it Dutch paintings, French tapestries, or in the case of her latest novel, The Glassmaker, a history of the glass blowing trade dating back to the 15th century on the island of Murano, near Venice.
This novel is a love affair with glass, an enthralling portrayal of its art and trade in Renaissance era Italy, with characters so human and real, you feel you know them personally. Her unique use of ‘time’ over the centuries makes this a distinctive and glowing work of historical fiction.

This is the story of Orsola Rosso and her family of glassmakers. Set in Murano and Venice, the novel tells the loves and losses of Orsola and her family from the Renaissance to modern times. "Skipping" the reader through time, Chevalier develops characters deeply as they experience the changes in their lives, the world, and the business of glassmaking. I learned so much about this special corner of the world while developing an attachment to the characters and their relationships. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for making this advance copy available.

I have been reading novels by Tracy Chevalier for many years. They always take me to different places and time periods. If you are heading to Venice you will enjoy this novel about Orsola Rosso - a strong woman who succeeded in becoming a glass maker in a male dominated trade. Lots of interesting information about Murano glass and the history of Venice through the ages. I enjoyed it.

THE GLASSMAKER
BY: TRACY CHEVALIER

This exquisite newest spellbinding literary fiction novel written by Tracy Chevalier was a reading experience that I absolutely loved. There is a glossary for some of the Italian and Venetian words including extreme slang at the back of the book. I think it would have been more helpful to place it in the beginning of this fine work of art. There are some Italian or Venetian words that give the translated meaning in English in the beginning. However, there are many Italian words throughout the text that made this writing somewhat choppy. I got used to it but it had the effects of me not feeling as intimately involved with the narrative. This might be the author's intent to create authenticity to the setting. The pacing is slow which worked out to be fine as I knew it is literary fiction. There is a unique way this main family named Rosso, who are Glass makers on the island of Murano, Italy where in 1486, it is revered for its glass blowing. The Rosso family inhabited roughly five hundred years trading their artisan craft in an opulent Venice. By using the imagery of skipping a stone across the surface of the water to symbolize how many centuries have passed in the plot juxtaposed by informing how many decades or years the Rosso family has aged throughout a normal lifespan. This separates the sections and introduces the reader to this family of Glass makers as they move through different eras aging normally. The passage of time invites the reader to experience this family to age a smaller finite number of years and how they adjust through heartbreaking loss, plague, Napoleon's siege and how it affects them across the author's suggested number of centuries. Aging normally across five centuries only applies to the Rosso family and everyone who matters to them to be able to still be alive up to the present day. It's quite clever to skip a stone across the water and then seamlessly move this family throughout the changes taking place through history and witness how they adapt to the challenges of real world events. This sounds confusing and I've never read anything like this without knowing ahead of time that this writing device is used to move the plot forward unless it's categorized as Science Fiction or Fantasy which this isn't. It was unexpected but executed far better than my description and all I can tell you is somehow it works which is impressive.

I was first introduced over 20 years ago, to Tracy Chevalier's phenomenal novel called, "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Who hasn't heard of that masterpiece? I've read other works by her but that in my mind is my favorite. In fact, I'm planning on immediately rereading that to see if I still think it's as brilliant as I thought when I first read it. That iconic work seemed to set the trend for a new trailblazing fiction about art history that is still done today.

Orsola Rosso is the eldest girl in the family that earns their living making glass objects such as goblets, chandeliers, and bowls and she has two brothers. Their father dies who is the expert in an accident while working creating a chandelier. A piece of glass gets lodged in his neck which he bleeds to death. Of her two brothers Marco is the most outspoken and driven by ambition to take over with a young man who is a better trained employee who dies during the plague. Marco designs glass objects that aren't as up to the Rossos standard quality because of his inexperience and it is an art that's perfected the more it's practiced.

In Murano there are other family businesses that do the same thing but these are secrets that are closely guarded in each establishment because it's a highly competitive hand made skill. By producing these coveted glass pieces are how they support themselves by selling them. A woman in a rival family of glass makers helps Orsola learn how to make glass beads. Women aren't allowed to work with the men in the shops so Orsola practices making her glass beads whenever she isn't cleaning, cooking and doing the housework. Her mother who is named Laura gives birth to a daughter named Stella. The glass beads are not made the same way that the glass objects are made in the shop with the men and Marco thinks Orsola's work with beads is foolish.

When Marco goes to Venice to sell his glassware he doesn't return which sends Orsola and her brother to search for him. They eventually find him through a fisherman named Antonio. He wants to be paid for his efforts of tracking down Marco in return for a position learning how to apprentice in the Rossos shop making glass objects. Over time Marco doesn't help Antonio learn the trade and Orsola and Antonio fall in love. He makes her a glass dolphin while they grow closer until Antonio moves to Prague. Orsola doesn't want to leave Murano and Antonio doesn't want to stay.

Meanwhile Orsola sells her beads with the same merchant in Venice that she met during the search for Marco, Before Antonio left the family shop was shut down and the plague struck and the family is quarantined. Antonio is not boarded up with the Rossos and Orsola lowers a basket of beads and that is how the family survives forty days by Antonio trading her beads for food which is scarce.

After the plague passes Orsola keeps selling her glass beads to the merchant in Venice. She becomes quite talented and she experiments with different colors and doesn't earn what the men in the shops do, but her glass beads are a steady income for her when she can get a chance to make them. She still is doing all of the household work while taking care of her younger sister and Marco's baby. Marco's wife died from the plague so Orsola devotes her spare time designing a variety of her glass beads. She ends up marrying a quiet man named Stefano who she doesn't love at first. He joined the Rossos glass shop from the same family business who taught her to make the glass beads. Antonio sends her different colored glass dolphins that he secretly sends through a slave that operates their Gondolier.

This is just a small sample of this epic tale of everything that happens as another stone is skipped across the water and a new century is entered and world events affect Murano and Venice. The family ages with each new century normally. The water and travel by Gondolier changes as bridges are built but the Rosso family must accommodate different time periods. Each new century brings change with what is going on in the world. The family extends and grows and this was a great novel that is unique and unforgettable. It's appeal to me is because I love Tracy Chevalier and when I saw it was about glass blown pieces having to do with art and I was sold. I own some expensive pieces and I'm always tempted to buy more. It was fascinating to learn the methods of how these stunning works of art were created over the centuries to the present day. They are more available in certain boutiques world wide but Murano and Venice come alive in this vivid portrait that Tracy Chevalier is so adept at creating a magnificent well researched dazzling new novel. I highly, highly recommend this to everyone.

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Tracy Chevalier and PENGUIN GROUP Viking for generously providing me with my wonderful ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheGlassmaker #TracyChevalier #PenguinGroupViking #NetGalley


THE GLASSMAKER
BY: TRACY CHEVALIER

This exquisite newest spellbinding literary fiction novel written by Tracy Chevalier was a reading experience that I absolutely loved. There is a glossary for some of the Italian and Venetian words including extreme slang at the back of the book. I think it would have been more helpful to place it in the beginning of this fine work of art. There are some Italian or Venetian words that give the translated meaning in English in the beginning. However, there are many Italian words throughout the text that made this writing somewhat choppy. I got used to it but it had the effects of me not feeling as intimately involved with the narrative. This might be the author's intent to create authenticity to the setting. The pacing is slow which worked out to be fine as I knew it is literary fiction. There is a unique way this main family named Rosso, who are Glass makers on the island of Murano, Italy where in 1486, it is revered for its glass blowing. The Rosso family inhabited roughly five hundred years trading their artisan craft in an opulent Venice. By using the imagery of skipping a stone across the surface of the water to symbolize how many centuries have passed in the plot juxtaposed by informing how many decades or years the Rosso family has aged throughout a normal lifespan. This separates the sections and introduces the reader to this family of Glass makers as they move through different eras aging normally. The passage of time invites the reader to experience this family to age a smaller finite number of years and how they adjust through heartbreaking loss, plague, Napoleon's siege and how it affects them across the author's suggested number of centuries. Aging normally across five centuries only applies to the Rosso family and everyone who matters to them to be able to still be alive up to the present day. It's quite clever to skip a stone across the water and then seamlessly move this family throughout the changes taking place through history and witness how they adapt to the challenges of real world events. This sounds confusing and I've never read anything like this without knowing ahead of time that this writing device is used to move the plot forward unless it's categorized as Science Fiction or Fantasy which this isn't. It was unexpected but executed far better than my description and all I can tell you is somehow it works which is impressive.

I was first introduced over 20 years ago, to Tracy Chevalier's phenomenal novel called, "Girl with a Pearl Earring." Who hasn't heard of that masterpiece? I've read other works by her but that in my mind is my favorite. In fact, I'm planning on immediately rereading that to see if I still think it's as brilliant as I thought when I first read it. That iconic work seemed to set the trend for a new trailblazing fiction about art history that is still done today.

Orsola Rosso is the eldest girl in the family that earns their living making glass objects such as goblets, chandeliers, and bowls and she has two brothers. Their father dies who is the expert in an accident while working creating a chandelier. A piece of glass gets lodged in his neck which he bleeds to death. Of her two brothers Marco is the most outspoken and driven by ambition to take over with a young man who is a better trained employee who dies during the plague. Marco designs glass objects that aren't as up to the Rossos standard quality because of his inexperience and it is an art that's perfected the more it's practiced.

In Murano there are other family businesses that do the same thing but these are secrets that are closely guarded in each establishment because it's a highly competitive hand made skill. By producing these coveted glass pieces are how they support themselves by selling them. A woman in a rival family of glass makers helps Orsola learn how to make glass beads. Women aren't allowed to work with the men in the shops so Orsola practices making her glass beads whenever she isn't cleaning, cooking and doing the housework. Her mother who is named Laura gives birth to a daughter named Stella. The glass beads are not made the same way that the glass objects are made in the shop with the men and Marco thinks Orsola's work with beads is foolish.

When Marco goes to Venice to sell his glassware he doesn't return which sends Orsola and her brother to search for him. They eventually find him through a fisherman named Antonio. He wants to be paid for his efforts of tracking down Marco in return for a position learning how to apprentice in the Rossos shop making glass objects. Over time Marco doesn't help Antonio learn the trade and Orsola and Antonio fall in love. He makes her a glass dolphin while they grow closer until Antonio moves to Prague. Orsola doesn't want to leave Murano and Antonio doesn't want to stay.

Meanwhile Orsola sells her beads with the same merchant in Venice that she met during the search for Marco, Before Antonio left the family shop was shut down and the plague struck and the family is quarantined. Antonio is not boarded up with the Rossos and Orsola lowers a basket of beads and that is how the family survives forty days by Antonio trading her beads for food which is scarce.

After the plague passes Orsola keeps selling her glass beads to the merchant in Venice. She becomes quite talented and she experiments with different colors and doesn't earn what the men in the shops do, but her glass beads are a steady income for her when she can get a chance to make them. She still is doing all of the household work while taking care of her younger sister and Marco's baby. Marco's wife died from the plague so Orsola devotes her spare time designing a variety of her glass beads. She ends up marrying a quiet man named Stefano who she doesn't love at first. He joined the Rossos glass shop from the same family business who taught her to make the glass beads. Antonio sends her different colored glass dolphins that he secretly sends through a slave that operates their Gondolier.

This is just a small sample of this epic tale of everything that happens as another stone is skipped across the water and a new century is entered and world events affect Murano and Venice. The family ages with each new century normally. The water and travel by Gondolier changes as bridges are built but the Rosso family must accommodate different time periods. Each new century brings change with what is going on in the world. The family extends and grows and this was a great novel that is unique and unforgettable. It's appeal to me is because I love Tracy Chevalier and when I saw it was about glass blown pieces having to do with art and I was sold. I own some expensive pieces and I'm always tempted to buy more. It was fascinating to learn the methods of how these stunning works of art were created over the centuries to the present day. They are more available in certain boutiques world wide but Murano and Venice come alive in this vivid portrait that Tracy Chevalier is so adept at creating a magnificent well researched dazzling new novel. I highly, highly recommend this to everyone.

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Tracy Chevalier and PENGUIN GROUP Viking for generously providing me with my wonderful ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#TheGlassmaker #TracyChevalier #PenguinGroupViking #NetGalley

This book was an excellent read as Tracy Chevalier's books always are.
The book takes place on Murano Island outside Venice, known as the island of glassmakers. A glassmaking family known as the Russos are featured. They are a middle level of glassmakers who enjoy moderate success and sometimes great success through the years. The original conceit of this novel is that time moves through hundreds of years in terms of Venice and Murano's history, , but the character's lives move chronologically. It sounds confusing, but moves the characters lives though different periods of history while they are aging in normal time.
I imagine this was a challenge for the author, but I felt it was a very interesting way to tell the story of the Russos as well as the history of Venice and Murano. I highly recommend this book!

A really intimate look at the tradition of glassmaking on Murano island. The author played with time in an interesting way that confused me at first but ultimately it worked for this story, allowing the reader to stay connected to a set of characters while spanning hundreds of years of history.

Such a beautiful historical novel. She has the gift of making you feel like you are right there in past times.
I love that I learn new things from reading her novels. This one set in the Venice area was awesome.

Written in a unique way. Very informative, but at times a little dull. I liked the end. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.