Tracy Chevalier
Author of Girl with a Pearl Earring
About the Author
Tracy Chevalier was born on October 19, 1962 in Washington, D.C. After receiving a B.A. in English from Oberlin College, she moved to England in 1984 where she worked several years as a reference book editor. Leaving her job in 1993, she began a year-long M.A in creative writing at the University show more of East Anglia. She is the author of several novels including The Virgin Blue, Burning Bright, Remarkable Creatures, and The Last Runaway. Her novel Girl with a Pearl Earring was made into a film starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Tracy Chevalier
Why Willows Weep: Contemporary Tales from the Woods (2011) — Editor; Contributor — 25 copies, 2 reviews
UEA Creative Writing Anthology: Prose 2009: Fiction, Life-writing and Scriptwriting (2009) — Foreword — 1 copy
Okñda vs̃en 1 copy
Associated Works
The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War (2015) — Contributor — 119 copies, 18 reviews
New Beginnings: New Writing from Bestselling Authors Sold in Aid of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake Charities (2005) — Contributor — 48 copies
Reader's Digest Select Editions: The Distant Echo | Trojan Odyssey | The Lady and the Unicorn | Blood Is the Sky (2004) — Contributor — 7 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Chevalier, Tracy
- Legal name
- Chevalier, Tracy Rose
- Birthdate
- 1962-10-19
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Oberlin College (B.A. ∙ 1984)
University of East Anglia (M.A. ∙ 1994)
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School - Occupations
- historical novelist
reference book editor - Awards and honors
- Royal Society of Literature (Fellow, 2008)
- Agent
- Jonny Geller (Curtis Brown)
- Short biography
- Tracy Chevalier (born October 1962 in Washington, DC) is a bestselling historical novelist. She lives in London with her husband and son.
Chevalier was raised in Washington, D.C and graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland. After receiving her B.A. in English from Oberlin College, she moved to England in 1984 where she worked several years as a reference book editor. Leaving her job in 1993, she began a year-long M.A in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Places of residence
- London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Map Location
- USA
Members
Reviews
Being so far advanced in terms of paleontology from the setting here, it's amazing anyone had to wrestle with the idea of extinction, but wrestle they did. On the Origin of Species had yet to be published, but you can see the evidence for natural selection with every fossil found. Literal bones of creatures never seen by humans made everyone have fits to the point of willful denials and wishful thinking. The idea that "god" didn't keep track of every creature and especially cherishing humans show more was unthinkable despite the rise of Deism and the Enlightenment giving way to more flexible ideas. Sigh. In many ways we haven't progressed at all and so many are still bound by superstition and ignorance. But anyway...about the book. I like the way the story is told and the wry humor in Elizabeth's thoughts and observations. Both she and Mary Anning were real life historical figures, but because they lacked dangly bits (oh so important those) they were ignored, shunted aside, taken advantage of and ultimately forgotten. Very glad for Chevalier's research to bring them back to life in this way. show less
At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier highlights her excellent storytelling ability and her creation of memorable characters. The novel paints a vivid picture of the hard and rough-hewn life of American pioneers as they ventured westward.
The story is about one family, the Goodenoughs as they leave Connecticut for Ohio, and take up farming in an area known as the Black Swamp. One of the conditions to qualify for free land is that an orchard of at least 50 trees must be planted within show more three years. Apples are such an ordinary fruit, yet this author has produced a hypnotically sweeping novel centred around them. The Goodenoughs struggle on their new land and, James, the father, an apple lover, finds that for every 10 trees he plants, five die. He and his wife constantly battle as he prefers to grow eating apples and Sadie who seeks solace from her dark life would rather he grow “spitters”, apples to be used to produce cider and applejack. Many of their trees are bought from John Chapman, who became know as Johnny Appleseed. There are five chapters, each describing a different era and at first we follow their bitter, self-centered and often violent marriage but eventally the story moves on to follow the lives of a couple of their children, Robert and Martha and the ever westward movement of their lives until they are under the giant Redwood and Sequoia trees of California.
Trees and landscapes are an important element of this beautifully written story. The author’s impeccable research and emotional storytelling has produced a wonderful book. Although it can be quite dark at times, I found At the Edge of the Orchard to be quite inspiring. show less
The story is about one family, the Goodenoughs as they leave Connecticut for Ohio, and take up farming in an area known as the Black Swamp. One of the conditions to qualify for free land is that an orchard of at least 50 trees must be planted within show more three years. Apples are such an ordinary fruit, yet this author has produced a hypnotically sweeping novel centred around them. The Goodenoughs struggle on their new land and, James, the father, an apple lover, finds that for every 10 trees he plants, five die. He and his wife constantly battle as he prefers to grow eating apples and Sadie who seeks solace from her dark life would rather he grow “spitters”, apples to be used to produce cider and applejack. Many of their trees are bought from John Chapman, who became know as Johnny Appleseed. There are five chapters, each describing a different era and at first we follow their bitter, self-centered and often violent marriage but eventally the story moves on to follow the lives of a couple of their children, Robert and Martha and the ever westward movement of their lives until they are under the giant Redwood and Sequoia trees of California.
Trees and landscapes are an important element of this beautifully written story. The author’s impeccable research and emotional storytelling has produced a wonderful book. Although it can be quite dark at times, I found At the Edge of the Orchard to be quite inspiring. show less
Osei Kokote is the new boy on the 6th grade playground in 1970's Washington. His father is a Ghanaian diplomat and Osei is in his fifth school. Used to being the new boy and often the only black boy, Osei knows how to navigate new situations. Luckily, Osei is paired with popular girl Dee to help show him around. Dee is hesitant around Osei at first, but they quickly form a bond. Ian, the class manipulator, does not like how swiftly Osei has found a place for himself and masterminds a scheme show more to break up Dee and Osei and regain the control that he believes he had over the 6th grade playground.
New Boy is a retelling of Shakespeare's Othello set within one day of a 6th grade class in Washington. I am a huge fan of Tracy Chevalier and her writing did not disappoint, pulling me right into a 1970's 6th grade playground. The writing was very fast paced with Dee and Osei falling in tune with one another soon after they met. I had to keep reminding myself that all the action took place within one school day, it seemed much more likely that these events should have taken a week. With that, I do think the author captured the short term playground politics perfectly with allegiances being forged and forgotten within a few hours. The characters are very powerfully written and while they are 6th grade students, they are dealing with some very adult issues such as romance, racism, jealousy and hatred. Since the action happens within such a short time span, these emotions are very volatile, intense and on display, resulting in misreading others intentions, missed social cues and ultimately, tragedy. show less
New Boy is a retelling of Shakespeare's Othello set within one day of a 6th grade class in Washington. I am a huge fan of Tracy Chevalier and her writing did not disappoint, pulling me right into a 1970's 6th grade playground. The writing was very fast paced with Dee and Osei falling in tune with one another soon after they met. I had to keep reminding myself that all the action took place within one school day, it seemed much more likely that these events should have taken a week. With that, I do think the author captured the short term playground politics perfectly with allegiances being forged and forgotten within a few hours. The characters are very powerfully written and while they are 6th grade students, they are dealing with some very adult issues such as romance, racism, jealousy and hatred. Since the action happens within such a short time span, these emotions are very volatile, intense and on display, resulting in misreading others intentions, missed social cues and ultimately, tragedy. show less
As my faithful listeners know, I have a long-standing and abiding admiration for the Brontë sisters, Ann, Emily, and Charlotte. When a new book came out by Tracy Chevalier with the title, Reader, I Married Him, I could not get to a bookstore fast enough. The title of the book stems from that immortal line near the end of Jane Eyre.
Tracy has written a number of wonderfully inventive novels including, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, and At the Edge of the Orchard. She has also managed to show more corral 21 of the best women writers today. Among them is Emma Donoghue, Francine Prose, Elif Shafak. Each writer based their stories the line “Reader, I married him,” and then took that wonderful morsel to stories of amazing creativity, empathy, and power.
Picking favorites for this review is almost impossible. While the stories vary on the treatment, they all possess wonderful imaginations. A case in point is “Grace Poole Her Testimony” by Helen Dunmore. She writes, “Reader, I married him. Those are her words for sure. She would have him at the time and place she chose, with every dish on the table to her appetite. // She came in meek and mild, but I knew her at first glance. There she sat in her low chair at a decent distance from the fire, buttering up Mrs. Fairfax as if the old lady were a plate of parsnips. She didn’t see me, but I saw her. You don’t live the life I lived without learning to move so quiet that there is never a stir to frighten anyone. // Jane Eyre. You couldn’t touch her. Nothing could bring a flush of color to that pale cheek. What kind of a pallor was it, you ask? A snowdrop pushing its way out of the bare earth, as green as it was white: that would be a comparison she liked. But I would say: sheets. Blank sheets. Paper, or else a bed that no one had ever lain in or ever wood” (31). Grace Poole was a servant of Rochester who was charged with taking care of Bertha, the iconic “mad women in the attic.”
Joanna Briscoe writes in “To Hold,” Mary and I stole conversations between lessons, between days and nights, every moment with her treasured, even the times when we clashed and tangled and cried, then tried so hard to start afresh. But how could you love a woman as I loved her? She lined my existence because she lived inside me, and at night as Robert slept, there were the colors of her, the fragrance, the smooth shell of skin behind her ear. When we could escape town, no one else on the moors on wet days, she walked with me in all the winds, which had names, and by the stream sources, among the curlews, the peregrine nests. She showed me the sandstone and the thorns and waterfalls: all the pretty places where the toadstools grew in dark secret; the drowning ponds, sphagnum, fairy tale growth in tree shadows” (61). This story has an ethereal bent that bring to mind the moors the Brontë sisters loved so dearly.
If I had the time and space, I would throw about pages to give a sample of each story. Tracy Chevalier in Reader, I married Him has assembled a marvelous collection of stories that reflect on the wealth of the literature of the 19th century. It is a collection every avid reader and admirer of the Brontë’s should have a permanent copy close at hand. 5 Stars for each of these women.
--Chiron, 11/4/18 show less
Tracy has written a number of wonderfully inventive novels including, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, and At the Edge of the Orchard. She has also managed to show more corral 21 of the best women writers today. Among them is Emma Donoghue, Francine Prose, Elif Shafak. Each writer based their stories the line “Reader, I married him,” and then took that wonderful morsel to stories of amazing creativity, empathy, and power.
Picking favorites for this review is almost impossible. While the stories vary on the treatment, they all possess wonderful imaginations. A case in point is “Grace Poole Her Testimony” by Helen Dunmore. She writes, “Reader, I married him. Those are her words for sure. She would have him at the time and place she chose, with every dish on the table to her appetite. // She came in meek and mild, but I knew her at first glance. There she sat in her low chair at a decent distance from the fire, buttering up Mrs. Fairfax as if the old lady were a plate of parsnips. She didn’t see me, but I saw her. You don’t live the life I lived without learning to move so quiet that there is never a stir to frighten anyone. // Jane Eyre. You couldn’t touch her. Nothing could bring a flush of color to that pale cheek. What kind of a pallor was it, you ask? A snowdrop pushing its way out of the bare earth, as green as it was white: that would be a comparison she liked. But I would say: sheets. Blank sheets. Paper, or else a bed that no one had ever lain in or ever wood” (31). Grace Poole was a servant of Rochester who was charged with taking care of Bertha, the iconic “mad women in the attic.”
Joanna Briscoe writes in “To Hold,” Mary and I stole conversations between lessons, between days and nights, every moment with her treasured, even the times when we clashed and tangled and cried, then tried so hard to start afresh. But how could you love a woman as I loved her? She lined my existence because she lived inside me, and at night as Robert slept, there were the colors of her, the fragrance, the smooth shell of skin behind her ear. When we could escape town, no one else on the moors on wet days, she walked with me in all the winds, which had names, and by the stream sources, among the curlews, the peregrine nests. She showed me the sandstone and the thorns and waterfalls: all the pretty places where the toadstools grew in dark secret; the drowning ponds, sphagnum, fairy tale growth in tree shadows” (61). This story has an ethereal bent that bring to mind the moors the Brontë sisters loved so dearly.
If I had the time and space, I would throw about pages to give a sample of each story. Tracy Chevalier in Reader, I married Him has assembled a marvelous collection of stories that reflect on the wealth of the literature of the 19th century. It is a collection every avid reader and admirer of the Brontë’s should have a permanent copy close at hand. 5 Stars for each of these women.
--Chiron, 11/4/18 show less
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Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 27
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 42,949
- Popularity
- #396
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 1,413
- ISBNs
- 750
- Languages
- 29
- Favorited
- 116
