The Girl with the Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)

Humm...... what do I think about this book? I'm not entirely sure. I had heard so much about it for so long (it was even made into a movie), but I had never been interested enough to pick it up. I am not generally an historical fiction kind of girl. It just didn't strike me as an interesting read.

But, obviously I picked it up. I ran across it in on CD at the library. In all honesty, I couldn't find anything else. So, the book follows a girl who becomes a maid when her father is unable to work as a tile maker following an injury. She works in the home of the famous painter, Vermeer (sp?). The plot moves from her first days as a maid until she eventually marries a butcher and is able to leave her maid-life behind. During her time with the Vermeer's, she falls in love with the painter. She works secretly as a kind of apprentice to him and he even paints her. She IS the girl with the pearl earring.

So, the novel imagines what life might have been like for the girl in the famous Vermeer painting. A pretty original idea. Overall, I'm glad that I read the book. It's not one of my favorites, but I can understand why it garnered so much attention. I'm not sure that I will see the movie....