Burning Bright
by Tracy Chevalier
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"Burning bright" is a novel about the 18th-century English poet/painter William Blake and the children who sparked his "Songs of innocence" and "Songs of experience." In March of 1792, young Jem Kellaway and his family move from their small rural village in the Piddle Valley to the bustling city of London. Jem's father, a chairmaker, has agreed to hire on as a carpenter with Astley's Circus.Tags
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PaperbackPirate William Blake's art plays an interesting role in this story.
Member Reviews
Really disappointed in this novel of circuses and wood shavings in 18th century Lambeth. It managed to educate me as to the ramifications of the French Revolution back in the UK, but I was really hoping for something more when it came to the interplay between the characters. Everything seemed so underplayed somehow, and there was little in the way of plot. To top things off the journey at the book’s end managed to combine mind numbing tedium with utter improbability. I put on my speed-reading hat. Not even the bare buttocks of William Blake could redeem this one.
A re-read for me, and one that I liked more this second time around. It covers the journey to London of a chairmaker and his family who move from Dorsetshire after the death of a son. There are several ongoing POV as the events take place, and Chevalier combines them all well.
Jem and Maisie Kellaway are the two children of Anne and Thomas who stare agog at the great city around them. Thomas has been recommended to the circus owner, Philip Astley, because of his excellent Windsor chairs. While Philips Astley helps them find lodging, they meet young Maggie Butterfield, daughter of a laundress and a local wheeler-dealer (one could say con artist if one wished).
The novel gets its name from the proximity of the two Kellaway children to show more William Blake and his wife. They live next door and are soon taken into the Blake home as occasional visitors. Jem is very entranced with Mr. Blake's printing press. And he shows the two children not just his engravings but also his poems. They know their letters enough to pick out the sense of the words.
While Jem helps his father make Windsor chairs and Maisie helps her mother make Dorset buttons, Maggie's life is quite different and she is forced by circumstances to find a job in mustard then vinegar factories. Of the two, the vinegar factory is the better.
Their lives become intertwined with one another's and with the Astley circus with the backdrop of the French Revolution for the timing. Each chapter is a different month during that time, leading up to the day when the Lambeth Association forces the local publicans to sign a declaration in support of the King, and the Kellaways are caught in the aftermath. As are William and Catherine Blake. Both parties escape with their lives, and the aftermath of their lives are told from a much more personal POV. show less
Jem and Maisie Kellaway are the two children of Anne and Thomas who stare agog at the great city around them. Thomas has been recommended to the circus owner, Philip Astley, because of his excellent Windsor chairs. While Philips Astley helps them find lodging, they meet young Maggie Butterfield, daughter of a laundress and a local wheeler-dealer (one could say con artist if one wished).
The novel gets its name from the proximity of the two Kellaway children to show more William Blake and his wife. They live next door and are soon taken into the Blake home as occasional visitors. Jem is very entranced with Mr. Blake's printing press. And he shows the two children not just his engravings but also his poems. They know their letters enough to pick out the sense of the words.
While Jem helps his father make Windsor chairs and Maisie helps her mother make Dorset buttons, Maggie's life is quite different and she is forced by circumstances to find a job in mustard then vinegar factories. Of the two, the vinegar factory is the better.
Their lives become intertwined with one another's and with the Astley circus with the backdrop of the French Revolution for the timing. Each chapter is a different month during that time, leading up to the day when the Lambeth Association forces the local publicans to sign a declaration in support of the King, and the Kellaways are caught in the aftermath. As are William and Catherine Blake. Both parties escape with their lives, and the aftermath of their lives are told from a much more personal POV. show less
I've read two of Tracy Chevalier's books (Girl with a Pearl Earring and Lady and the Unicorn) and enjoyed them, so was looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint! Fascinating story weaving William Blake, the poet and printer with Astley's Circus of late 18th century London, along with fears concerning possible repercussions of the French Revolution in England. All brilliantly told from the viewpoint of a young boy who has just moved to London with his family from a country village.
The historical novel Burning Bright is set in London 1792-3, and features the factual persons of William Blake and Philip Astley. It centers on a family from Dorsetshire transplanted to the (to them) alien urban setting. Although I'm no specialist in the period, I've taken away a favorable impression of author Chevalier's research and verisimilitude. Her characters' words seem authentic and her narration incorporates their speech and their world smoothly. The device of the country Kellaway family learning about city life is an effective method of developing the setting. The Kellaway paterfamilias has come to London to work for Astley's circus, and the Kellaway children become acquainted with their neighbors in Lambeth at Hercules show more Buildings, the Blakes. The innocent Kellaways are also juxtaposed with an experienced London underclass family, the Butterfields.
I would tend to class this story as a "comedy" in an old-fashioned sense: its principal focus is on lower-class protagonists, and the plot eventuates in an upbeat manner--though there are certainly elements that could be taken as subversive of the genre. It's not overflowing with wit or slapstick, although there are some surprising turns.
Chevalier has developed her characters with generous sympathy, except for a few plain villains. The book reads quickly, with largish chapters named after the months of the period, and numbered subchapters to define digestible episodes. I came to this novel hoping to get a more vivid, storybook sense of the lived context of William Blake, and I think it did its job well. From the title onward, there are many opportunities seized to artfully incorporate Blake's own words into the substance of the novel. Chevalier also provides a bibliography and overview of her historical sources in a helpful appendix. show less
I would tend to class this story as a "comedy" in an old-fashioned sense: its principal focus is on lower-class protagonists, and the plot eventuates in an upbeat manner--though there are certainly elements that could be taken as subversive of the genre. It's not overflowing with wit or slapstick, although there are some surprising turns.
Chevalier has developed her characters with generous sympathy, except for a few plain villains. The book reads quickly, with largish chapters named after the months of the period, and numbered subchapters to define digestible episodes. I came to this novel hoping to get a more vivid, storybook sense of the lived context of William Blake, and I think it did its job well. From the title onward, there are many opportunities seized to artfully incorporate Blake's own words into the substance of the novel. Chevalier also provides a bibliography and overview of her historical sources in a helpful appendix. show less
In un quartiere caotico della Londra di fine 700 la storia di una famiglia di paese e in particolare di un ragazzo e una ragazza si incrocia con quwlla del poeta William Blake, avverso alle autorità per le sue idee progressiste e la pietà verso chi soffre. Storia e fantasia si incrociano in un piacevole racconto con la solita destrezza dell'autrice che ci fa riflettere sui legami di amore, amicizia e vicinato e ci regala conoscenze altrimenti difficili da acquisire.
London 1792. The Kellaways move from familiar rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiving city. They are leaving behind a terrible loss, a blow that only a completely new life may soften.
Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey inspires one of Blake's most entrancing works.
My Thoughts:
After first reading show more ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ many moons ago I tough I would never read a TC book again as I thought it was awful. I am glad that I have changed my mind and now have read all but one of her books.
This book I quite enjoyed. What TC does do is give a good sense of place and I really felt I was following the characters along the streets of Georgian London. I also enjoyed the snippets into Astley’s circus. This also interested me as my married name is Astley and my husbands family were gypsies and travellers.
My favourite character had to be Maisie, ‘Miss Piddle’. I loved her to bits and wanted to take her home myself and tell her not to go after the awful John Astley. She I think is the main reason I liked this book.
There is also William Blake who lives next to the Kellaways. I didn’t really know much about Blake and to be honest came away from the book still not knowing much about him. For me the author could have concentrated more on the circus and just have Mr Blake as the nice man next door.
Overall I liked the book very much and will always look out for more new books by Tracy Chevalier. show less
Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey inspires one of Blake's most entrancing works.
My Thoughts:
After first reading show more ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ many moons ago I tough I would never read a TC book again as I thought it was awful. I am glad that I have changed my mind and now have read all but one of her books.
This book I quite enjoyed. What TC does do is give a good sense of place and I really felt I was following the characters along the streets of Georgian London. I also enjoyed the snippets into Astley’s circus. This also interested me as my married name is Astley and my husbands family were gypsies and travellers.
My favourite character had to be Maisie, ‘Miss Piddle’. I loved her to bits and wanted to take her home myself and tell her not to go after the awful John Astley. She I think is the main reason I liked this book.
There is also William Blake who lives next to the Kellaways. I didn’t really know much about Blake and to be honest came away from the book still not knowing much about him. For me the author could have concentrated more on the circus and just have Mr Blake as the nice man next door.
Overall I liked the book very much and will always look out for more new books by Tracy Chevalier. show less
Reread a copy found at a library discard sale. I wanted more of Blake, but the note at the end points us to plenty of other sources. This is more about where & when he was living & working, and the kinds of people who lived then & there, and their challenges (and few joys). Beautifully written, which is why I gave it the fourth star.
But omg it makes me thankful that I did not live back then.
"What's funny about opposites be that wet and dry both has water, boy and girl be about people, Heaven and Hell be the places you go when you die. They all have something in common. So they an'y completely different from each other the way people think. Having the one don't mean t'other be gone." (Bright child to Blake.)
(Circus owner to Blake:) " show more you are taking ideas in your head and making them into something you can see and hold in your hand; while I am taking real things- horses and acrobats and dances- and turning them into memories.... The world needs us both."
[a:Michael Phillips|8036444|Michael Phillips|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was working on [b:William Blake|610065|William Blake|Michael Phillips|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348651797l/610065._SX50_.jpg|39972604] as Chevalier was finishing this. I wonder if it's as satisfying to her as she hoped it would be. show less
But omg it makes me thankful that I did not live back then.
"What's funny about opposites be that wet and dry both has water, boy and girl be about people, Heaven and Hell be the places you go when you die. They all have something in common. So they an'y completely different from each other the way people think. Having the one don't mean t'other be gone." (Bright child to Blake.)
(Circus owner to Blake:) " show more you are taking ideas in your head and making them into something you can see and hold in your hand; while I am taking real things- horses and acrobats and dances- and turning them into memories.... The world needs us both."
[a:Michael Phillips|8036444|Michael Phillips|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] was working on [b:William Blake|610065|William Blake|Michael Phillips|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348651797l/610065._SX50_.jpg|39972604] as Chevalier was finishing this. I wonder if it's as satisfying to her as she hoped it would be. show less
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Author Information
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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 of East Anglia. She is the author of several novels show more 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
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Burning Bright
- Original title
- Burning Bright
- Original publication date
- 2007-03-05
- People/Characters
- Jem Kellaway; Maggie Butterfield; William Blake; Phillip Astley; Tom Kellaway; Charlie Butterfield (show all 17); John Astley; Bet Butterfield; Maisie Kellaway; Ann Kellaway; Thomas Kellaway; Rosie Wightman; Miss Pelham; Dick Butterfield; Laura Devine; John Fox; Hannah Smith
- Important places
- London, England, UK; Lambeth, England, UK; Astley's Amphitheatre, London, England, UK; Piddletrenthide, Dorset, England, UK; England, UK
- Important events
- French Revolution (1789 | 1799)
- Dedication
- For my parents
- First words
- There was something humiliating about waiting in a cart on a busy London street with all your possessions stacked around you, on show to the curious public.
- Quotations
- Anne examined her finished button and used her thumbnail to distribute rows of thread evenly so that the button resembled a tiny spiderweb. Satisfied, she dropped the button in her lap with the others she had made, and picked... (show all) up a new metal ring, which she began wrapping with thread right the way around the rim.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)They argued about it all the way to Piddletown.
- Publisher's editor*
- Neri Pozza
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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