Girl With A Pearl Earring

‘I began to get used to lying’ -  Griet

Tracy Chevalier’s award winning historical novel about one of Johannes Vermeer’s most notable paintings, captured my attention from the start and can very easily be joyfully read in one sitting.                       

Chevalier throws the reader straight into her narrative of Griet as she begins to experience her new life as a maid, so we learn about her as she learns about herself. At the start, I felt too much detail was given about Cornelia, one of Vermeer’s daughters though it can show how much Griet feared her, I think that it was when she was mentioned less that she became significantly more scary with no one ever being truly aware of her capabilities.

 Also, I initially frowned upon the Chevalier’s stylistic choice of using years instead of chapters to divide the book a but as I read on I started to see it as advantageous as she was able to bring up different instances that occurred throughout the year as they became relevant and thus create a more impactful and vivid story, such as how Vermeer began painting her. Moreover, Chevalier successfully created a story that spanned across ten years but told it well within less than 300 pages. I think this was very much the intention of Martina Cole when writing ‘The Take’ but was lost due to her unnecessary use of repetition; however,  I will always prefer having a chapter to give me a good place to pause my reading.

Tension was built successfully in the novel as Chevalier doesn’t write simply nor give the reader all the information but instead leads us up to a point from which we can make our own conclusions which makes it difficult for any reader not to engage with the narrative, especially as things become more complicated for Griet. Arguably, this is very similar to a painter like Vermeer creating a painting which we as the audience often create our own back-story for, which is obviously fitting for this historical novel added to by the uncertainty around when the painting was created as well as the little known about Vermeer’s life during this time period, providing her great creative license, evident by her stating that breastfeeding prevents a woman from having more children which is claim that my research has found no merit to. 

Three Vermeer paintings mentioned in the novel.

Additionally, Griet’s lack of identity and not wanting to be painted ‘as a maid ... nor a lady’ reflects the ambiguity that Chevalier has said she first saw in the painting before she started her writing. It can also still reflect the feelings of young people which I think can contribute to the timelessness of the novel as well as the inclusion of the renowned painter. This isn’t to say that Chevalier didn’t do good research as she mentions many of Vermeer’s other paintings from the time period including, The Concert, The Milkmaid and The Girl With The Wine Glass.

This honestly is a great book and one that I can keep going on about which makes it no surprise that it still considered an good novel over a decade later.