THE GLASSMAKER by Tracy Chevalier

5 stars!

Another glorious plunge into a unique lens of hidden women’s history by Tracey Chevalier!

This time she whisks us across the centuries of women glassmakers on the island of Murano, adjacent to Venice, Italy. Though generations of families have specialized in the gorgeous glass blowing for which Murano becomes famous, the women of these glassmaking families have traditionally have been relegated to keep up the household and family.

But Orsola Rosso wants in and learns, during financial hard times for her family, from an older woman how to make lampwork glass beads. Unlike the dramatic fire used to craft dramatic vases, chandeliers and goblets by her brothers, Orsola labors in the kitchen burning smelly tallow to perfect her bead making art. Belittled by her harsh older brother who has taken up head of the family, Orsola during tough economic times repeatedly comes to her the Rosso family’s rescue.

Chevalier uses a clever literary device of slowly aging Orsola along with her close family and friends as time skips along, which she describes like a stone skipping across the Venetian waters to different periods in Venetian history. The novels opens in 1486 and skips along for 500 years to take us through the Italian Renaissance, Napoleon’s conquest, harsh Austrian rule, and up through recent history including COVID shut downs.

Sadly, Orsola’s hot-headed brother drives away from Murano the love of Orsola’s life: an ambitious, talented young glassmaker from Venice. Their thwarted love weaves throughout the novel as transcendent as the glass they each make. As fiercely independent Orsola perfects her art, the flow of artisan glass and the hidden roles of women in its creation gets celebrated in all its translucent beauty.

Thanks to Penguin Group, Viking, and NetGalley for advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.