First Friday Book Club | The Glass Maker by Tracey Chevalier

The Glass Maker, a rich, transporting story that follows a family of glassmakers from the height of Renaissance-era Italy to present day, is spellbinding: a mesmerizing portrait of a woman, a family, and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.

The art of making fragile and beautiful glass on the island Murano, lies at the core of this intricately themed novel by Tracey Chevalier, the author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring. Glass techniques were handed down from father to son but a daughter, Orosa Rosso, pauses the tradition by learning to make glass beads to save her family business. As a woman, she is not meant to work with glass—but she has the hands for it, the heart, and a vision. When her father dies, she teaches herself to make beads in secret, and her work supports the Rosso family fortunes.

Beginning in 1486 this journey is also a glance at the Enlightenment, plagues, the Napoleonic era through to Covid 19.  Through all this we learn much about the art of glass making and the history of Venice.

Join The Friends for another morning of lively discussion.