In The Girl With A Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who is forced to go to work at a famous painter's house. This historic and best-selling work is based on a famous painting of the same name by Johannes Vermeer, a famous Dutch painter.

About the book Girl with a Pearl Earring:

The narrator of the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring is a girl named Gert, who works as a servant in the house of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermer. The whole story takes place in the city of Delphi, where the painter and his family live. The story begins when Vermer and his wife Katrina are looking for a maid for their house, so they go to Garrett's family's house to see her up close.

Garrett's family does not have good economic conditions, because his father, who was a tile maker, loses his sight due to an accident and is no longer able to work, so they decide to send their 16-year-old daughter as a servant to Johannes Vermer's house.

Since Garrett is considered a religious girl, she is not happy about having to work in a house whose owners are Catholic. Wormer and his wife accept him to come to their house on Sundays. As the story progresses, Garrett attracts the attention of Johannes and develops a friendly relationship with him, and is allowed to clean his employer's painting workshop.

Meanwhile, Vermer does not allow anyone, even his family members, to enter his workshop, which is why this issue causes sensitivity for others. Until Johannes decides to paint a portrait of the girl, he asks Garrett to slip his wife's pearl earrings into his ears and sit in the model's chair. This issue causes a lot of rumors in the city and a lot of stories and hadiths are formed behind Garrett and Johannes.

There are many conjectures about the painting of a girl with a pearl earring, some believe that the subject of this portrait is one of Johannes Vermer's daughters, and others believe that he painted a picture of his maid's daughter, Tracy Chevalier wrote her novel based on the second guess. is written.

Vermeer created this painting between 1665 and 1675. This painting is now kept in the Mauritius Museum in The Hague.

Peter Weber made a movie based on this novel in Luxembourg in 2003. The famous American actress Scarlett Johansson played the role of the servant girl Garrett. This film was nominated for an Oscar in the fields of cinematography, art direction and costume design.

Awards and honors of the book A Girl with a Pearl Earring:

- New York Times bestselling novel
- Lincoln Award nominee (2006)
- ALA Alex Award Winner (2001)
- nominated for Premi Llibreter de narrativa (2001)
- Winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Award (2000)
- Nominated for the Orange Award for Long Stories (2000)

Who is Johannes Vermeer?

He is one of the most famous Dutch painters of the Baroque period, who lived between 1632 and 1675, and only 34 paintings by Johannes Vermeer remain.

Vermeer is known as one of the founders of the golden age of Dutch art in the 17th century; An artist whose main subject of his works is the middle class of his country's society and who was able to depict the interior of the houses of that era.

Apart from the portrait of a girl with a pearl earring, other paintings such as "Lady with a pearl necklace, Christ in the house of Martha and Mary, Delphic landscape and the milkmaid" are remembered by him.

Notes of the book A Girl with a Pearl Earring:

- Brilliant! (Entertainment Weekly)
- Amazingly memorable! (New York Times Magazine)
Tracy Chevalier brings alive the life of painter Johannes Vermeer in her novel. (time)
- Knight creates a world that transcends its time and place in a suspended moment. (The New Yorker)
- The knight has clearly depicted the life of this painter. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- A lively and luxurious novel... triumphant... a beautifully written story. (Wall street Journal)
- It is a wonderful novel, mysterious and full of the mood of its time... It is deeply revealing in the process of the creation of a painting... It is truly a mysterious experience. (The Guardian London newspaper)
- Chevalier is a master of details, a master of evocative images... It is based on these details that draws the reader into the painting, into the masterpiece he creates: a book that is shocking, mysterious and sometimes even unbearably touching. Sometimes it is so powerful that the reader feels it and hears its breathing around them. This novel definitely deserves an award or two and I have no doubt that it will win. (The Times of London)

For whom is the book Girl with a Pearl Earring suitable?

If you are interested in the history and biography of old famous artists as well as classic novels, do not miss this book.

Get to know Tracy Chevalier more:

She is an American-English novelist best known for writing her second novel The Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Tracy Chevalier is the creator of historical novels and has been a member of various social organizations as a representative of the writers' community and has also worked in the publishing industry and prestigious British libraries.

This best-selling author received her bachelor's degree in English and studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia for her master's degree.

Chevalier published his first book in 1997 called the virgin blue. Among his other books, "The Last Fugitive, Flaming Light and Fall of Angels" can be mentioned.

Awards and honors of Tracy Chevalier:

- Winner of the Ohioana Award in 2013
- Member of the Royal Society of Literature of England in 2008
- 2000 Barnes and Noble Discover Award winner
- Received an honorary doctorate from Oberlin College and University of East Anglia in 2013