The Virgin Blue | 
 enlarge | Author: Tracy Chevalier
Publisher: Plume
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  157 reviews
Sales Rank: 136208
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0452284449
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780452284449
ASIN: 0452284449
Publication Date: June 24, 2003
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Condition: Cover wear and may contain some marks or writing. Keen Northwest ships in 2 business days or less. Refunds for any reason if item returned within 30 days of shipment.
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Product Description
Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin - two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family's French ancestry. As the novel unfolds - alternating between Ella's story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier - a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very last page.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 152 more reviews...
 B+ August 8, 2008
Chevalier shows budding writers the correct way parallelism should be used for dramatic and storytelling effect in The Virgin Blue, her debut novel. It is flawlessly carried out. I enjoyed the melodrama of the flawed romantic relationships, although some readers might find that off-putting. The protagonist, Ella, inexplicably leaves her husband, and no adequate reason is given. Many have found this aspect to be a plot hole, but I think a more sophisticated eye would find that there really doesn't need to be a reason for every choice a person makes, that emotion-based logic is a shaky system, used quite often in Chevalier's tome. The author had a penchant for telling, not showing, which is the inevitable downfall of the book. The story is a wonderful idea, and the characters were pretty well developed. Some images got repetitive, and I got tired of seeing some of the same descriptions numerous times. The descriptions of life in a small French town, while a bit stereotypical, are also portrayed well. The climax is expected if you paid enough attention, and the epilogue is beautifully open-ended in just the right amount.
 Fails to deliver character development or plot August 7, 2008
While the basic idea is intriguing, the book fails to deliver in terms of character development and plot.
I found Ella selfish and whiney, an impression that only intensified through contrast with Isabelle, who lives at a time when as a woman and refugee she has far fewer options than Ella has today, and yet responds with courage and concern for others. Isabelle's character interested me initially, but unfortunately she remained the same from childhood to middle-adulthood. Isabelle makes little impact on her surroundings, and at the same time it is not shown how circumstances impact her. Ella stays consistently whiney throughout, and if anything, the book celebrates her becoming even more selfish.
The coincidences used to tie the past/present plotlines feel contrived. The end of the book feels rushed, with Ella making the remaining discoveries about her family's past through dreams (which, conveniently, are no longer abstract) and through especially unbelievable guesswork. Finally, in a book that condemns the persecution of Catholics, which is largely motivated by ignorance, the author nevertheless perpetuates common misunderstandings, showing the central Catholic character eager to "worship" Mary.
 Deeply Disturbing - Do Not Recommend May 30, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
No doubt Ms. Chevalier highlights a significant time of religious intolerance, but the tale is disturbing on so many deep levels, I am extremely sorry I read it. I am still trying to erase my memories of this novel and I won't be taking a chance on any other Chevalier material. (I previously read Girl with a Pearl Earring and thought it was interesting.)
A great debut novel April 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I quite like Tracy Chevalier's books, although I believe she has sort of lost her touch with her two most recent novels, The Lady and the Unicorn and Burning Bright. "The Virgin Blue" is her debut novel, and while it also deals with a part of European history, the main motive of all Chevalier's books, displacement, is most evident here. It alternates between two stories, one about Isabelle de Moulin, a young protestant woman dealing with the hardships of life in 1572 France, and a modern-day one about Ella Turner, an American who has recently moved to France with her husband and who starts tracing her family history out of boredom.
The novel is both fun and difficult to read, as it requires some knowledge about the Huguenots and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, but there is a historical note at the end of the book that explains it all and should be read first. The two women are very well-written characters, although at times too two-dimensional - irregardless, their stories are engaging, and the novel is a real page-turner.
Although not quite as good as Chevalier's smash hit Girl with a Pearl Earring, Deluxe Edition, or her best novel, Falling Angels, "The Virgin Blue" is good historical fiction - far-fetched, engaging and sexy, bordering on erotic.
Burning Bright March 15, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I bought this book, Burning Bright, with great anticipation, after I read and liked her previous 2 books, Girl with a Perl Earring, and The Lady with the Unicorn. I am most disappointed by this effort. Perhaps, I am thinking, it is not Tracy Chevalier's writing after all? The above mentioned two novels were magical, the language wonderful, while this one is flat, forced, boring, and so on. I tried to read on valiantly but eventually gave up at page 46. An old professor of my said long ago: "Who does not speak Arabic, should not speak Arabic".
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