The Glassmaker by Tracey Chevalier

Orsola is the spirited teenage daughter of the Rosso family, all glassmakers from the tiny Venetian island of Murano. She’s very young when she sees her father bleed out in the workshop after he’s struck in the neck by a shard of glass while making pieces for a chandelier. Out of his two sons, the youngest is quiet, solid and dependable and would have made the perfect maestro, while his eldest Marco is loud, egotistical and very proud of his skill with glass. Now the entire family’s fortunes lie on his shoulders as the eldest always inherits the title of maestro from their father. He needs to support everyone from his widowed mother Laura and her youngest daughter Stella. His promotion leaves room for another servente to become the apprenticed glassmaker, second only to the maestro. In an unusual move Marco employs Antonio, originally a fisherman he has always wanted to work with glass. For Orsola it is love at first sight. Meanwhile, she is looking for ways to supplement the family’s income and visits their patron and merchant, a Dutchman called Klingenhorn. He suggests that she approach the only female glassmaker in the city to teach her how to make glass beads over a heated lamp. Once her beads are of the right quality, Klingenhorn agrees to place an order and she sets to work with determination. Orsola is our window on the Rosso family and she imparts both their history and the history of the island with it’s amazing glassmaking heritage. It is a history filled with love, passion, duty, tragedy and ingenuity, plus a little touch of the magic that Venice has in abundance.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Orsola because she’s so brave and independent, attacking life with a fearlessness that aligns her with the most important woman working in glass, Maria Barrovier. The family business is run by the men of the family, leaving the women powerless. Her mother has a great business brain and younger brother Giacomo would have definitely been a safer pair of hands, churning out the same simple glassware for daily use. Yet thanks to a circumstance of birth they are all at the mercy of the mercurial Marco. He is so dissatisfied with their usual output of plates and goblets that have been the Rosso’s bread and butter, he wants to make more ornate and decorative glass, but misses the fact that it still has to be functional. Orsola keeps her own business dealings with Klingenhorn a secret from her family, telling them her bead making is merely a hobby. Her budding romance with Antonio is intoxicating, but she knows immediately that he wouldn’t be her brother’s choice for a husband. They spend moonlit nights marooned on Antonio’s boat dreaming of a life where they can be together, away from the rivalry his presence has caused in the workshop. The Rosso’s business is a rollercoaster and they have to face hardship, change focus and rebuild several times. The author takes us from the 17th Century plague that hit Venice hard, all the way through to the COVID pandemic. While centuries pass in the real world, somehow everything happens within Orsola’s lifetime. When I visited Venice for the first time, particularly in the evening, I had a strange feeling I might turn a corner and be in another century. Orsola rarely leaves Murano and Venice, only once venturing to the mainland, rowed by Klingenhorn’s slave. I felt that if Orsola actually set foot on the mainland she would suddenly age by decades.

The time difference felt strange at first, but it soon felt completely normal. We get to experience the city’s heyday as a bustling port, filled with merchants and people of all races and places. We see that dwindle as time goes on and slowly native Venetians leave and tourists move in. The author explores issues that are important to the island today: the worsening of the acqua Alta; the building of flood defences in the lagoon; cruise ships dwarfing the city and disgorging hundreds of tourists into San Marco at once; the shops selling cheap Chinese versions of local crafts such as mask makers, leather workers and glass makers, undercutting local artists; the changing flora and fauna, illustrated by the dolphins reported in the lagoon during COVID when only residents were left in the city. The author explores that conundrum of the negative impact of tourism on the city, while also acknowledging the city’s absolute dependence on it’s visitors. The endless lament that Venice is sinking, only serving to heighten people’s desire to see it. There are those who feel Venice has become a theme park of of it’s original self. I utterly adore Venice and I’m going next year for what will probably be the last time as it is difficult for a disabled person to get around. The author mentions a Las Vegas hotel where a microcosm of Venice has been created, with some visitors thinking they no longer need to travel to see the city. Yet it’s picture perfect bridges and clean canals are miles away from the real Venice. Of all my memories of Venice, the most important are those that are far from perfect. It’s the churn of the mud in the Grand Canal and silty smell of the mud, the washing hanging above your head, meeting locals and their dogs walking after dinner and the sound of squeaking rubber against the dock as the vaporetto leaves it’s stop. We always laugh about the old man we met crossing a bridge into Castello who farted loudly, before laughing uproariously! I feel that spooky sensation I had walking round the back of La Fenice after dark and the smell of candles and incense as we heard mass in an unexpectedly beautiful church. It was watching everyday things that gave me an idea of living in Venice: the grocery deliveries; being rushed to hospital or having the rubbish collected by boats. It’s all these things that make Venice real and not a film set.

Of course I was longing for Orsola to reunite with her one love Antonio and I won’t ruin your enjoyment by telling all, except to say that just like the real Venice, real life is rarely a romantic novel. However, what I enjoyed most was Orsola herself because she is a pioneer and an incredible business woman. In fact she succeeds precisely because she is a woman. While Marco inherits the business, his ego and inability to change could have derailed the whole family. The women in this novel ‘manage’ the men, working around them and often slowly drip feeding ideas and solutions to the men until they adopt the idea as their own. Whereas Marco never asks for advice and rarely takes it, Orsola recognises the shortcomings of the business or when a crisis is looming. She knows who to ask, consulting with Klingenhorn and his replacement Johnas, Maria Barovier and the women of Cannaregio about threading and stacking seed beads. Even as the novel comes up to date she’s still diversifying, opening a second shop in a busy tourist Calle of Venice itself and employing someone to crate the glass balloons and trinkets that are easily packaged and stowed in a suitcase. She survives by being pragmatic, recognising when to challenge and when to do her duty, even if her temper does get the better of her at times. The depth of research that’s gone into her story and the author recommends many sources in her brilliant afterword. She creates a Venice I recognise, full of beauty and history but also a real and imperfect place, reliant on the very thing that destroys it. She captures the soul of the island and of Murano too and the people who feel themselves as Muranese first and foremost. I loved the magic of these places and how it attracts the eccentric and eclectic characters who have made it their home over the years. From Casanova, to Peggy Guggenheim and the previous owner of her home, the Marchessa and her pet Cheetahs. It is a moving, vibrant and intelligent novel that I know I will want to read again and again.

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of The Glassmaker.

I enjoyed this book immensely. It is a beautifully written book following a family of glassmakers on an island near Venice, where time moves differently to the rest of the world. Following the ups and downs of family life, events in history and more, to see how glass making changed to keep up with the changing world.
Highly recommend.

I was quickly drawn into this story, a family of Glassmakers on the Island of Murano. Orsola is the daughter of the family, the business is passed from Father to son with the women doing the domestic work. When an accident occurs in the workshop, Orsola's Father Lorenzo is killed, making them short of money Marco the eldest takes over the business, he is arrogant and selfish. Orsola tries to make the family pull together especially when she realises her Mother Laura is pregnant. Orsolo starts making seed glass beads to help support her family, they are sold cheaply and she has to keep the work secret from her brother.
Orsolo's sister is born and Marco married then plague breaks out, infected people are moved to an island and isolated, any family who has contact with a victim is incarcerated in their home until the quarantine period is up. Families are split up and there are many deaths. A friend of the family Antonia brings supplies to the family, he is apprenticed to the workshop, he and Orsolo fall in love, but Marco sacks him so he has to move to Prague. The family continue to grow, more children are born, Orsolo eventually marries Stefano against her wishes, he is the son of a rival glassmaker.
War erupts and times are again difficult. We live thorough events from 1486 to the present day, but time goes slowly in Murano, Orsolo is only in her sixties at the end of the novel.
I enjoyed this book, confused at times by the many children and families, also the whole time passing in a different way.
Thank you NetGalley, Tracy and Harper Collins for this ARC.

The Glassmaker is destined to become one of my books of the year. Starting in 1486 we are told the story of the Orsola Rosso, the daughter of a glassmaker on the island of Murano. The island and its inhabitants are subject to their own rules of time so we can skip forward for example from 1494 to 1574 with the characters only aging by a couple of years. With this clever device the author is able to move through the history of Venice and Murano and their wars, plagues ,trade wars, tourism, Covid and floods that effect the area due to changes in the climate. It is a story of family and love but also of how history has affected the people and trade within this area. I felt that I have learnt so much about glassmaking and the history of the Venice but it never felt forced or overwhelming. A truly wonderful book that I will take pleasure in re-reading in the future. Many thanks to NetGalley, and the publisher for the ARC of this novel in return for a honest review.

“Absorbing, historical fiction”
I was attracted to this book because of its Venetian setting.

The detail about glass making- whether it be beads or more ornate pieces were absorbing as were the parts where the Plague comes to Venice.

I enjoyed the characters, but the "device" of a stone skimming across time, with time moving more slowly for the characters really did not work for me. It stretched belief beyond its elasticity. To have Orsola live in so many centuries with her family was too much . I felt that Chevalier would have been better off writing about generations of the family across the centuries and trusting readers to remember the family tree.

The pace was good and the historical detail and I do feel inspired to return to Murano having read this book. I attended an event at the Cheltenham Literary Festival for this book , but unfortunately the author had Covid , as I was hoping that she would have changed my opinion.

However thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC.

I very much enjoyed this beautifully written historical fiction book, set in Venice and Murano, about a glass-making family. The book cleverly skips through time, covering so much interesting history while recounting the plot, all the way from the 1400s to the present day. So skilfully written because Chevalier is simply so very good at writing. A delight.

This is a mesmerising read - a fascinating history of glassmaking in Venice, tied to the history of the Rosso family, and to the character of Orsola, a young woman who aspires to be a glassmaker like her father and brothers, At the outset of the story in 15c Venice, this is not a career which women can follow, but she is shown the secrets of glass bead making by an older woman, from a rival glassmaking family.
As time passes - shown by the device of a stone, skipping across the Venice lagoon - her role becomes more central to the family's fortunes. She, and to a lesser extent, her family, age in a way that allows her to witness the events of 5 centuries as experienced by and in the city, and the wider world.

Orsola is a complex, engaging, paradoxical character whose story is both individual and universal, timeless and specific to her various timelines. Chevalier's writing completely convinced me to suspend disbelief and follow Orsola's survival through the ages. While the writer must have done a great deal of research in order to give the book its historical background, this never feels intrusive - simply stunningly authentic.

Thoroughly recommend.

To historical fiction lovers this book is a gem. Venice and the surrounding islands, including Murano, will always have a special place in history. This novel is a fitting tribute to the glassmakers of old times, presents their work and traditions in great details through the life of a family. I found the time jumps a bit confusing, but the story itself is captivating and emotional, and the writing is simply beautiful.

The Glassmaker is a beautiful, sad and emotional story of a glassmaking family in the island of Murano and spanning five centuries. Exquisite storytelling, the plot device of the Venice and island inhabitants aging slower than the rest of the world world very well. I have visited Venice and Murano and possess some of its glass and I would like to go.back. Historical fiction it's best.

The Glassmaker
Tracey Chevalier

Is a gripping, enjoyably old-fashioned story with a strong character, Orsula as the lead.
The one fatal flaw is she and her family are allowed to witness many centuries of Venice and Murano history whilst aging at a slower rate.
From little girl who is born into a glass making family she finds a way to guide her headstrong brother through hard timed and even joins the family profession as a bead maker.
However she goes from making beads at the time of the Great Plague through to Covid which makes it all somewhat unbelievable.
It tells a fascinating story of Venice's boom and destitution caused by Napoleon and then a war and yet more wars. At one stage she makes a disastrously hot headed decision and allows the love of her life to leave her behind. Interwoven with this are her many parting and bereavements which overall make it a very sad book

If you loved The Girl With The Pearl Earring you will love The Glassmaker. Tracey Chevalier's historical novels are always different as she homes in on her characters' personal stories and The Glassmaker is no exception. Here she tells the tale of a glassmaking family on the island of Murano near Venice from the 15th century up to the present day. The main character is a woman, Orsola Rosso, who determines to make glass even though it is the prerogative of the male members of her family to do so. She lives through the history of Venice and these events are thoroughly researched but never overwhelm Orsola's personal story. Highly recommended. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK/The Borough Press for the opportunity to read and review

4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/10/03/review-the-glassmaker-by-tracy-chevalier/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: A Beautiful History of Murano/Venice

If you enjoy reading historical fiction with a slight twist then The Glassmaker might be just what you’re looking for, plus, I love Venice so couldn’t resist this. Tracy Chevalier has a lovely way with words and I’ve enjoyed all of the books I’ve read by her previously. She clearly does her homework and the stories always stand out, full of remarkable imagery that bring the period to life. The Glassmaker is no exception. A very enjoyable story that follows one family from as far back as 1486 right up to the present day.

Now, this story could have easily become cumbersome. This is a long time period to follow but what the author has actually managed to do with this story is keep it simple. How did she manage this, she uses the same family members, we see them at different periods of time when events are taking place that lead to success or downfall, some of them die along the way, a few new members are added through marriage and childbirth, but, for the most part, the key names remain. It’s difficult to really explain how Chevalier has achieved this other than to use her own description. These characters are not immortals and this story doesn’t contain the supernatural. We witness the family, usually as they are at a key moment in time, we then skip forward, a little like skimming a rock across a pond, and pick up from a different point in history. I guess it’s as though this family has a time machine of their very own, or perhaps it’s easier to think of it as the time simply being compressed together allowing our main character to bring us simply to the present day.

Anyway, we follow Orsola Rosso, the eldest daughter in a family of glassmakers on the island of Murano. As we start the Rosso’s story the year is 1486 and Orsola is deep in the throes of family life. A young girl still, she steps inside the workshop of one of the family’s main competitors, here she meets a woman who changes her life in the future.

In the time the story begins it was forbidden for women to become glassmakers, it was also forbidden for glass to be made anywhere else in Venice other than Murano, predominantly due to the fire hazard from the roaring furnaces. There is one family where a woman practices glassmaking – very successfully – and she encourages Orsola who eventually resorts to bead making – at first to make a little extra money to help the family, but then becoming a gifted maker with a keen eye for detail. Orsola’s glass making takes her through times of trouble and family highs. She falls in love, is eventually married and has a daughter of her own and experiences many events that have helped to shape the Venice we know today.

What I really enjoyed about this.

FIrstly, the writing. I do like this author very much. She’s a talented storyteller and although I might not have thought I was interested in glassmaking she certainly pulled me into this story. Of course this is about so much more than the glass. Venice has a fantastic history and many of the events that came to pass are highlighted here, mainly to show the effect this had on families and businesses alike.

The first incident was the plague. This was such an interesting storyline to read. The Rosso family were one of the first to succumb and those infected were taken to a different island, the remaining family members being boarded up into their home and made to quarantine for forty days. We also see changes in power, invasions and of course some famous characters, including Josephine Bonaparte and Casanova.

So we have all these intriguing events that I loved and they’re all compressed into the lifetime of this one family. Of course, the author could have gone down the more traditional route of the family growing, dieing, changing, etc, but there’s a simplicity here that I thought worked really well. You’re not struggling to remember copious names or moving forward from characters that you’ve already become attached to. We stay with Orsola and she’s a character that is easy to like. She works hard and has her ups and downs with her family members, particularly her eldest brother who is very arrogant and becomes the head of the family following the death of their father. We also have a love interest where Orsola’s heart is captured which takes a different route than I anticipated.

The historical details are really captivating but also what I loved was the differences and significance given to the Venetians because of the fact that they live on the water. I really liked the way this was given focus. Particularly in the earlier parts of the story when travel was not so easy. Of course, gondolas still populate the canals of Venice but these are aimed more at tourists these days than necessity.

I don’t want to say too much more about the story. I found myself becoming fully immersed in Orsola’s story, sometimes feeling frustrated on her behalf but also enjoying her highlights. If you enjoy historical fiction then I definitely recommend this.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publishers, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

A ode to Venice, craftsmanship and female perseverance. Starting in Venice, 1486, we follow Orsola Rosso and her family as she tries to save their glassmaking business. The narrative skips through time like stones skip on water, while the family’s trials stay the same. Chevalier captures the magic of Venice. I loved this book and was very touched by the ending. You’ll feel transported and travel through time, you may become sentimental about dolphins and you’ll miss this world once you’ve finished. With thanks to @netgalleyuk and @harpercollinsuk.

I have always loved stories of families and their histories, especially when the characters are wonderfully constructed, and The Glassmaker brings a truly original storytelling technique with its time skips, which may be quirky, but work well to carry the plot and to add variety into the story.
This plot device worked well to underline that life is nothing but a series of events or choices that determine its direction. And if you were born a woman, particularly centuries ago, many such choices are taken away from you.
Here, the majority of the significant events in Orsola's life are the result of either unavoidable incidents, or of choices made by the men and others in her life whose voice matter more than hers.
There is one choice that Orsola makes, which haunts her for the rest of her life, even though she ends up living contented one, with a good man who loves and cares for her deeply, undemanding of passion or love that she can never give him. This bittersweet theme, no matter how realistic and poetic, somewhat spoiled my enjoyment of the story against another slightly bigger issue: the one I have with Antonio. To the pragmatist in me, he chose to pursue his own path in life and then held Orsola as an emotional hostage for decades, never letting her be free to enjoy her life. Had he really loved her, surely he would have wanted her to be happy and after all, first loves are usually just that. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I've had this issue with other books too- from my perspective, when relationships end, whether by choice or not, it's only fair to move on and make the most of life and I've always considered one party's unwillingness to allow the other to do so somewhat callous.
Aside from this, having visited Venice a few times I adored being able to visualise the backdrops of this story and to let my imagination fill the gaps around the centuries that separated me from Orsola and her family during the course of the story. There are many cultural references in this book that I found to be really accurate, so again, kudos to Tracy Chevalier's research skills- although I must admit that on a purely selfish level, I would have loved more references to Italian history rather than the wider context of events around the world that everyone is all too familiar with. Still, there are some very nice touches such as the plague, with its echoes of Alessandro Manzoni's 'I Promessi Sposi', Napoleon's influence on Venice and the advent of WWI and what this meant to Italian families which resonated with me.
The Glassmaker is an incredibly well written and original book, set around a unique place, with vivid characters who inject as much life into the story as they do into Venice itself.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for this eCopy to review

As I turned the final page of “The Glassmaker” by Tracy Chevalier, I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction. The novel, set against the backdrop of the vibrant glassmaking industry, drew me in with its rich historical detail and compelling characters. Chevalier’s ability to weave intricate narratives around historical events is truly remarkable.

Orsola's journey from a novice to a master glassmaker was both inspiring and heart-wrenching, more so as she was a female in a predominately male business. I found myself rooting for her, feeling her triumphs and setbacks as if they were my own. The descriptions of the glassmaking process were so vivid that I could almost feel the heat of the furnace and see the molten glass taking shape.

However, I found the time-travelling aspect a little confusing and did not really see what it added to the story, focussing on future dependents of Orsola would have worked just as well rather than moving her and her family forwards in time.

Overall, “The Glassmaker” is a beautifully crafted novel that offers a fascinating glimpse into a unique craft. It’s a story of perseverance, artistry, and the human spirit, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Tracy Chavelier being Tracy Chevalier at her absolute best. It takes huge skill to pull off the central device (one character's lifetime spans centuries) and in lesser hands it might be (oh god) whimsical but with writing this good and characters this real and a setting as irresistible as Venice you can't go wrong. A perfect book to lose yourself in.

An interesting book! I really enjoy historical novels and, as I have visited Venice and Murano, the setting was particularly appealing. The author's attention to detail and meticulous research is commendable and I was drawn in to the story of Orsola and her family. However, this is also a time slip novel with the storyline skipping forward several years or, in some instances, centuries. Orsola is 9 years old when we meet her and the timslips mean that she not only ages through the story but is also deposited into the future along with her family, from 1486 to the present day. This part of it didn't really work for me. The story of the family carries on as you would expect but I'm not sure what the timeslips add to the story other than giving an interesting glimpse into the ups and downs of the history of Venice, Murano and the glassmaking industry. This is interesting, however, it's almost like the family live in a bubble in amongst it (the film Brigadoon kept coming into my head for some reason). It's the little things that didn't quite come together, although phones, flights, new bridges etc are mentioned, there isn't an impression of the family actually living modern lives. I'm probably not explaining myself very well but I felt that I'd have enjoyed it more as a multi generational novel. It's a clever idea and I did enjoy the history but it fell a bit short for me and I have to agree with some other reviewers that the ending felt a little rushed.

Murano in 1496 is the setting of this breathtaking novel by Tracy Chevalier. Our protagonist, Orsola Rosso, comes from a long line of glassmakers and aspires to follow in her family's footsteps. Orsola finds her calling with unwavering determination as she crafts multi-colored glass beads. She matures into an expert in the field in a world where glass is mostly a man work where skills are very protected for their incredible commercial value for the Venetians.
Yet there is a fascinating turn to the story: it shifts from the great plague to the Covid era, all the while keeping Orsola at its core, by utilising the metaphor of a stone skimming the water. At first, I found it maybe a bit disorientating, but after some thought, I realised that this story concept was fantastic. It recreates the ebb and flow of Murano and Venice through the ages, illuminating the triumphs and tragedies that have shaped this region.
The compelling historical backdrop that Tracy Chevalier always uses in her writings is what made this one so interesting.
Orsola is supported by an impressive cast, including her husband Stefano, her loving fisherman Antonio, the trader Klingenberg, the gondolier Domenego, her fascinating family and many real historical characters like Maria Barovier, Casanova, Napoleon and Josephine. Throughout 500 years of history, they depict the evolution of Venice and Murano and its inhabitants' social lives, economic fortunes, and natural surroundings.
The concept of time travel was brilliant, and I loved the novel for it. Once again, it was a pleasure to follow this incredibly gifted author through yet another great book.

A story that is a little different. I really enjoyed this book which involves a family of glassmakers based on the island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon. The story spans a significant time frame from the early use of glass to present times. Or sold Rosso is the main character who guides the Rosso family through the plague,, great floods, and general hardship. The time travel relates to a stone skimming across the lagoon. A very enjoyable book recommended.

I’ve read several of Tracy Chevalier’s previous books including her most well-known novel, The Girl with the Pearl Earring. What those books demonstrate is her ability to create stories that draw you in and to capture the essence of a period, whether that’s 17th century Delft, 1930s Winchester or 19th Century Ohio.

In The Glassmaker she attempts to do more than that with a story that encompasses centuries but focuses on a set of characters (chiefly the Rosso family but also a few others in their ‘bubble’) who age at a slower rate than the world around them. The author likens this to skipping a stone over water meaning that we see the history of Murano glassmaking and of Venice evolve through the centuries whilst remaining with the same small cast of characters. The book thus takes the reader from the 15th century to almost the present day. I confess I struggled with the concept as we got further away from the fifteenth century and modern technology became more of a feature. The last section set in a flooded Venice in 2019 felt like a bit of an add-on in order to introduce the impact of climate change.

The book’s main character, Orsola Rosso, daughter of a family who have been involved in glassmaking for centuries, faces the obstacle experienced by pretty much all women at the time: her gender prevents her pursuing her ambitions and restricts her independence. It even removes her freedom to choose with whom she should spend her life, the interests of the family coming before her own desires. The prospect of a life filled with household chores fills her with dismay.

However, encouraged by a woman who has defied convention, Orsola begins to learn the craft of glass beadmaking, work that doesn’t require a furnace like the other objects produced in the family’s factory. Her brother Marco considers beads an inferior product although as time goes on Orsola’s work proves its value to the family when tastes change and Murano no longer has a monopoly on glassmaking.

The 16th century sees the arrival of the plague in Venice and this, for me, was the most gripping section of the book. The inhabitants of Murano pray that the stretch of water that divides them from the city will protect them, but it is not to be. The Rosso family experience loss, separation and the rigors of quarantine on an island that is not self-sufficient. Some members of the family are never quite the same afterwards, physically or psychologically.

I loved learning about the process of glassmaking which the author has clearly researched in exhaustive detail. Although Murano is easily accessible today, for its inhabitants in earlier times it was very separate from Venice, not just geographically but culturally. When Orsola makes her first visit to Venice she feels very much an outsider, confused by the layout of the city and its busy streets and waterways. And the notion of visiting the mainland – terrafirma – fills her with terror despite her curiosity.

Even if the structure didn’t completely work for me, The Glassmaker is an intriguing story of a family, of a city and a craft over the centuries and entwined within it is a bittersweet romance.