Girl in hyacinth blue

Girl in hyacinth blue

Eight linked stories tracing the history of a painting by the 17th century Dutch artist, Vermeer. In one, he paints his daughter to pay off debts, a second story describes the loss of the ownership papers, a third takes place on the eve of its theft by the Nazis. By the author of What Love Sees.
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Reviews

Photo of Sarah Sammis
Sarah Sammis@pussreboots
5 stars
Apr 4, 2024

The Girl in Hyacinth blue is a classic example of Susan Vreeland's favorite type of story telling--where an object inspires and determines a course of story. One writing assignment we had in high school was to write a story based on an object that we randomly chose out of a box. In the case of this novel, the Girl in Hyacinth blue is the object and in some regards, the protagonist. I love how the story unwinds itself back to its origins, to see just how it is that the painting arrived at its final owner. The theme of an objects life melds perfectly with the mission of Book Crossing. On a side note, I found it fascinating that Ms Vreeland is still teaching creative writing. When I took her class back in 1990-1, her career as a writer had only just started. She had gotten "What Loves Sees" published and was working to get a second book published. It wasn't until joining Book Crossing that I learned that she had done well for herself as a writer. I'm very pleased that she has because she was one of the best teachers I ever had.

Photo of Missy Zuber
Missy Zuber @mlz2883
1 star
Aug 15, 2022

Slow and dull. One of the hand full of books I never actually finished.

Photo of Rose Stanley
Rose Stanley@roseofoulesfame
5 stars
Jan 4, 2022

Loved how the stories connected in this. Not quite in the same league as Cloud Atlas but still vg.

Photo of Sheila Goicea
Sheila Goicea@foalsfictionandfiligree
3 stars
Dec 23, 2021

This book has been sitting in my Kindle library for over 2 years, just waiting to be read. I finally got to it and was pleasantly surprised that it was about a piece of artwork by a famous artist!

Photo of Samantha Jump
Samantha Jump@sam-bounce
5 stars
Mar 24, 2022
Photo of Sofia Kim
Sofia Kim@fifiwithgyu
4 stars
Apr 29, 2024
Photo of Caitlin Hooker
Caitlin Hooker@chooker
4 stars
Mar 12, 2023
Photo of Stephanie Honour
Stephanie Honour@stephonour
3 stars
Nov 4, 2022
Photo of Cindy Lieberman
Cindy Lieberman@chicindy
4 stars
Mar 26, 2022
Photo of Bee
Bee @izziewithay
3 stars
Mar 1, 2022
Photo of Jennifer A.
Jennifer A.@miesie112
3 stars
Feb 8, 2022
Photo of Emily S
Emily S@bibliochemist
3 stars
Nov 18, 2021
Photo of Angelina Thomson
Angelina Thomson@amrthomson
3 stars
Nov 1, 2021
Photo of Lisa H
Lisa H@lisaloveslovestories
2 stars
Oct 23, 2021
Photo of Julie Berman
Julie Berman@bookies
3 stars
Oct 15, 2021
Photo of Jessica Kinlund
Jessica Kinlund@jkinlund
4 stars
Oct 2, 2021