Tracy Chevalier is a highly active author in the historical fiction genre at the present time. Her latest book Remarkable Creates (2010) was a true return to form for her, and while it is unlikely any other book she authors will reach the level of popularity of her volume Girl with a Pearl Earring, there are still so many stories fans would love to see emerge from the pen of Tracy Chevalier.
A 1930s era story from Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier has written several books, and the most recently set one occurred during the suffragette movement in Edwardian England following the death and mourning of the beloved Queen Victoria. Tracy Chevalier has the ability to take a more recent time period, even a period as far removed as the 1920s/1930s passage between the two World Wars, and craft a story that manages to reflect on the setting, the mood, and the world at large while having a tightly focused theme on her main characters.
Burning Bright was a book that sought to capture the challenges faced by men such as William Blake while also covering the story of two young people primarily. The era is present within the text, and it is even reflected on while not detracting from the emotion and struggle of people. She could do the same thing with a more contemporary time period.
A Return to Painting from Tracy Chevalier
Tracy Chevalier was born to describe art and color. It is why her book Girl with a Pearl Earring was such a masterpiece. The prose in the volume may have been a traditional novel, but the words were poetry. In a later novel, she gave a similar treatment to the crafting of ornate and artistic tapestries. The Lady and the Unicorn was not an instant classic, but it gave art a book that was art in and of itself.
It would be a wonderful moment to see Tracy Chevalier return to a story based around the world of art and particularly painting. It wouldn’t do to return to Vermeer or Dutch paintings, but there is a whole history of art and artists to explore.
Madame Curie in a story by Tracy Chevalier
The book Remarkable Creatures really upped my appreciation of Tracy Chevalier’s range as an author, and it makes me want to see her step from fossils to another field of science. While the life of Madame Curie may not lend itself to great fiction it would be a true honor to read a book by Chevalier that was related to some branch of the medical or research sciences.
The honor that she was able to give the practice of amateur archaeology and a largely uncredited woman would be well placed in another volume.
Tracy Chevalier is an author who can do practically anything with a story, and it is always a pleasure to see her name on a new release.
