Girl in Hyacinth Blue

by Susan Vreeland

Book Overview

The New York Times bestselling luminous tale about art and human experience that is as breathtaking as any Vermeer painting

"A little gem of a novel . . . and a] beautifully written exploration of the power of art." --Parade

A professor invites a colleague from the art department to his home to see a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer--why has he hidden this...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014029628X
• ISBN13: 9780140296280
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.4" x 7.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

a story told in reverse

The author transports up back through time following a great work of art back to it's roots centuries ago. Interesting characters, settings, and time periods.

Unique and lovely...

The concept of this novel, tracing the history of a painting by going back in time chapter by chapter, is just my cup of tea. Susan Vreeland has done an excellent job in transferring this unique notion to paper. I've always enjoyed antiques and wondered about its origination; Girl in Hyacinth Blue was like a dream come true in that respect.The story begins with math professor, Cornelius Engelbrecht. He was bequeathed a painting from his father, who claims it a masterpiece by the Dutch artist Vermeer. There are no papers to prove this statement; however, the bigger picture is the way Cornelius's father obtained the painting...a way that has haunted him all his life.Each chapter moves back in time to the previous owner of the painting. Readers follow the painting from the wall of Cornelius's father to the actual inspiration and creation of it. Each vignette houses new sets of characters with the painting as its central core. Slowly, with each turning page, we reveal another part of the painting's history, layer by layer, and what it has meant to the people whose lives it touched.Girl in Hyacinth Blue made for a wonderful reading experience. I recommend this novel to those who enjoy lovely period pieces or like getting to the bare bones of a story. A very in depth and beautiful premise. I have Susan's next book on my list.

A Fascinating Journey Through Time

When a shy, private-school math teacher, Cornelius Engelbrecht, discovers a canvas thought to be a Vermeer, Girl in Hyacinth Blue, a touching and beautifully-written book, begins a fascinating journey back through time to trace the history of the painting.Engelbrecht's father's dying words had been, "An eye like a blue pearl," referring to the female figure in the painting, that of a young woman in a blue smock and rust-colored skirt, standing beside an open window. Although Cornelius feels captivated by the painting, he also feels a sense of shame at how it came to be in his father's possession.From the revelation of what, exactly, the elder Engelbrecht did, we then move backward through time from the point of view of one owner to another, all the way back to the painting's point of origin. Each time the painting changes hands, there are high hopes, a time of optimism, until it finally falls into Cornelius' hands and he realizes how it has been tainted by history. The single thread running through each story, the one that connects each character, is this lovely painting, the painting of the Girl in Hyacinth Blue.One of the most fascinating things about this lovely little book are the details of family life and the history that can be found in each vignette. Like the painting, each "story-within-the-novel" seems to be a frozen moment in time and Vreeland's language in painting her own word portrait is both formal and concise as she offers lush detail and wonderful insight. Much in the book is tender and sad and it truly touches the heart. We feel the pain of these characters and identify with their suffering. They are real people and we can almost believe the painting is real as well.The central section of the book, and the one that is most fascinating, is called "Morningshine," and focuses on a Dutch family who are isolated in their farmhouse and surrounded by floodwaters. The following passage is indicative of Vreeland's beautiful, but rather spare, prose:"Saskia opened the back shutters and looked out the upstairs south window early the second morning after the flood. Their farmhouse was an island apart from the world. Vapors of varying gray made the neighboring four farmhouses indistinct, yet there was a shine on the water like the polished pewter of her mother's kitchen back home. Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so, she thought. But it wasn't so. And the cow would have to stay upstairs with them until it was so, however long that was, stay upstairs messing the floor and taking up half the room."The above-passage clearly shows Vreeland's talent for evoking a sense of time and place. This is in evidence throughout the book and makes it highly atmospheric and charged with the energy of the times.Moments of serendipity are scattered through Girl in Hyacinth Blue as are the harsh realities of the times: hunger, poverty, misery. At one point, in Saskia's

Artfully written, a gem of a novel.

All I did was open the book. From the first page I couldn't put it down. Never have I appreciated Vermeer so, until I saw his work through Susan Vreeland's eyes. Novels that transport the reader to another time and place are rare these days. This one does. I loved it!

Excellent link between art and literature

I was very impressed by this book. I admired the author's ability to handle multiple time periods with such fluidity. And to express the full range of human emotions and complexities without hystrionics. There was a touch of restraint throughout, a quietness that mirrored the contemplative nature of the painting. And with every story, the painting was described differently so that I never tired of hearing about it, and the painting meant something different to each protagonist. One of the most important aspects of visual arts is to touch the viewer somehow, and the author brought that out beautifully. She also handled major historical events as well as intimate family relationships, the micro to the macro, with such confidence. I feel this was one of the best books I've read.

The best book that I have read in years......a must-read!!!!

Girl in Hyacinth Blue",eight short stories of a possible Vermeer masterpiece, is a work of art in itself. Vreeland paints with artful, descriptive thoughts, as her palette and brushes. She takes the reader backward through time on an adventure that gives an inner view of the families that have owned "The Painting"and how it's beauty touched there lives. Her detail makes one think that she must have lived through all of these times. She skillfully renders, the artist who,"Painted Her", and his turbulent struggle of balancing his duty with reality as a father and husband........... and as an artist, struggling to focus at the center of his Art. Vreeland touches that vulnerable part of every artist who feels that they are alone in that same struggle. The feeling at the end of the book is ,"Just one more story...."