The Glassmaker - Book Review
Genre: Historical fiction
Author: Tracy Chevalier
Year: 2024
Pages: 392
I’ve been looking for a historical fiction story to really get lost in, a tale gripping in plot and detail. I heard lots of positive reviews from booksellers and book lovers alike about The Glassmaker, so when I spotted this edition on a recent trip to Melbourne, I decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did, because it was exactly the type of book I was in the mood for.
The Glassmaker begins in Venice, 1486, on the island of Murano. Here time flows differently, as centuries come and go, and our group of characters are not much changed. We follow the lives of the Rosso family, a family of glassmakers, and in particular, a young woman called Orsola Rosso. Women are not meant to work with glass but Orsolo flouts convention and begins working in secret. We follow Orsola as she hones her craft throughout the centuries, while the family is impacted by plague and war, love and loss, tragedy and triumph.
The Glassmaker is an intricately detailed historical novel. I really like books that are descriptive in setting, as it makes my reading experience all the more engaging and immersive. The Glassmaker is broken into three parts, and Chevalier did an excellent job of setting the scene in the first part of the story. The writing and descriptions are so vivid and atmospheric, which is something that I love in a good book. I could really feel the sweltering summer heat, Orsola’s frustration of being confined indoors during the Black Plague, and the rich vibrancy and flurry of Venice’s trade hub. I really appreciate the detail the author put into the world building; because of this, the first part of the story was really gripping as we begin to learn about the Rosso family and the ebbs and flows of the family’s glass business throughout the centuries.
I did feel the story start to slow down in the second part - this section didn’t have the same pacing and interest for me as the start of The Glassmaker.
I really enjoyed the story, but at times, I couldn’t quite get my head around the magical realism element; the time difference on Murano and Venice compared to the rest of the world, or ‘terraferma’ as referred to by Orsola. I found the time jumps particularly from the 1700s-1800s to the 1920s and then 2019 to be quite jarring; it was odd to read about contemporary life invading Murano and Orsola’s life after being set in the past for most of the book. It’s quite a clever way of incorporating multiple time periods within the story of one person and her family, but this magical realism element took me out of the story. Perhaps I was just reading too much into it, because it was still an enjoyable read.
The Glassmaker is an intricately woven tale. It definitely demands all of your attention, I couldn’t imagine reading a few pages here and there; it’s a book you really need to sit with to appreciate.
★ ★ ★ ★ / 4 stars
One little sidenote: I wanted to mention a little appreciation for this beautiful cover! I bought this edition in Australia; it’s very different to the UK paperback edition, and I think it adds to the descriptions and atmosphere of the book really well.