My thoughts on this book with its beautiful blue and white cover.
It was the cover which drew me in, as its so pretty and reminds me somewhat of another book I recently read and enjoyed – Midnight Blue by Simone Van Der Vlugt which is also historical fiction focussing on the life of a woman involved in decorating porcelain and pottery.
The heroine of Nancy Bilyeau's new book, The Blue is Genevieve Planche – of Huguenot descent, a young woman who desperately wants her ambition to be a famous painter to be taken seriously but in 18th century Spitalfields this is an almost impossible goal.
Parallels here, too as I also recently read BlackBerry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton, set in spitalfields amidst the Huguenot silk weavers. If you like this type of book here are 3 great reads to spend your Christmas book tokens on!
Back to The Blue ....
Trying to emulate her hero the renowned painter Hogarth Genevieve is determined to learn and develop her skills as an artist and feels this will be wasted in the job which she has been offered as a painter of flowers in a factory, little does she comprehend the deadly allure of the secrets of porcelain and in particular the production of the perfect Blue which people are dying to get hold of, literally.
Genevieve is a misfit, her family name marks her out as a Frenchwoman but living in an England at war with France this instantly makes her a bit of a pariah. She is also outspoken, a risk taker and somewhat reckless. Far from the perfect, biddable young lady her uncle tries to mould her into becoming she gatecrashes a party where she knows famous faces in the art world will be present convinced she will be able to persuade one of her idols to take her on as an apprentice. When she is brushed aside and scorned she comes into contact with a charming and rakish young man who promises to be her stepping stone into the society she longs to join, if she will only make a compromise which may prove to be her undoing.
At this point I felt the book might dissolve into a regency romance a la Barbara Cartland but I needn’t have worried as what evolves is a complex and twisty tale of mystery, deceit and espionage set in an art-filled background.
There is romance and passion but this is a well-researched and written novel with lots going on to keep the reader gripped. The locations of London, Derby and France are particularly atmospheric and the characters often flawed and complicated.
With so much going on it gets quite complex at times but never boring and is a must for readers who enjoy historical fiction with enough historical fact and a few real historical characters thrown in to feel realistic as well as entertaining and lively.
Genevieve is charming and rather feckless, sometimes she annoyed me but I was rotting for her all the way, through her adventures and many misadventures. You know she's making bad decisions yet you can also see why she does and what she ends up involved in - well you'll have to read it to find out.
It can be ordered from the usual booksellers and here it is on Amazon.
The Blurb
In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities; fortunes are made and lost upon it. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture.
For Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure; she wants to be an artist, a painter of international repute, but nobody takes the idea of a female artist seriously in London. If only she could reach Venice.
When Genevieve meets the charming Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers her an opportunity she can’t refuse; if she learns the secrets of porcelein, he will send her to Venice. But in particular, she must learn the secrets of the colour blue…
The ensuing events take Genevieve deep into England’s emerging industrial heartlands, where not only does she learn about porcelain, but also about the art of industrial espionage.
With the heart and spirit of her Huguenot ancestors, Genevieve faces her challenges head on, but how much is she willing to suffer in pursuit and protection of the colour blue?
About the author:
Nancy Bilyeau has worked on the staffs of InStyle, DuJour, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. She is currently the deputy editor of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at City University of New York and a regular contributor to Town & Country, Purist, and The Vintage News.
A native of the Midwest, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan. THE CROWN, her first novel and an Oprah pick, was published in 2012; the sequel, THE CHALICE, followed in 2013. The third in the trilogy, THE TAPESTRY, was published by Touchstone in 2015. Her fourth novel, THE BLUE, will be publishing on 3rd December.
Nancy lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
Website: http://nancybilyeau.com/
Twitter: @tudorscribe
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