Journal Entry 1 by choclaholic from San Antonio, Texas USA on Thursday, May 22, 2003

Read in August, 2003.

I heard about this book a while ago, and recently found it for a quarter at a thrift shop.

This is a book of historical fiction featuring the girl seen on the cover of the book, (girl with a pearl earring), set in the late 1600s in Delft.

According to my research, the "girl with a pearl earring" is actually thought to be the painter Vermeer's own daughter, Maria. However, in this story she is the daughter of another painter, who has tragically become impoverished, and must be sent out to work as hired help. She becomes the live-in maid of Vermeer's wife, and eventually becomes Vermeer's muse.

The book is a bit slow, especially the first half of the book, where the author is describing the young maid's various domestic duties and relations with her new family. About mid-story, it got better when the artist took an interest in the girl; the sexual intrigue added some needed tension to the book, and the art compostion and descriptions of the historical way of making pigment was very interesting.

It was a good book, not great, and after reading it, I was a bit surprised out how highly acclaimed it was. It's looking for a good home now.