Search - The Virgin Blue

Isabella's story was more interesting than Ella's. It seemed the book was unfinished, and there was no real growth or resolution at the end. Horrible things happened, but how did the women really change?

I liked it better than Girl with a Pearl Earring. It stradles modern time and the late 1500's in France. It wasn't too heavy on history, but enough to educate you. A quick read.

This book is so very similar to the Labrynth that I read just a bit ago. I swear they were even in the same towns just 500 yrs apart! It makes me wonder if the other author read this book! I was so engrosed in this book I couldnt put it down, but the ending was crappy! I would have liked more closure. warning of domestic violence

Another interesting read from Chevalier.

This book wasn't what I was expecting after reading,"Girl with a Pearl Earring," which I thought was Wonderful. The writing and characterizations were well done and the time sequences seemed accurate. I had some difficulty at the end. The result was that while I liked it and enjoyed it while reading it, I felt a little lost at times. In Girl with a Pearl the heroine and others reacted to her circumstances very much as I would expect, giving it a feeling of comfort. In "The Virgin Blue" both Ella Turner, the modern protagonist and Isabelle du Moulin, Ella's predecessor by 100 yrs. reacted in ways I thought unlikely. I will be cuious to see how they both( Girl with a Pearl and Virgin Blue) compare with "Falling Angels".

Ella, a contemporary American, struggles to assimilate in the small medieval village where she and her husband have settled. Her genealogy research leads her on a fateful trail to Switzerland. The intertwining story (400 yrs earlier)tells Isabelle's tragic part in her family's migration during the Protestant reformation...a time of Calvinist sects trying to break away from the Papacy. Superstition, gossip and tragedy follow both woman. I love historical fiction so wish Chevalier had told more and not left me with so many questions. As with the "Girl with a Pearl Earring", I felt she just skimmed over the surface with an "outline" for what could have been a great novel.