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
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
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
Set in London of 1792, we find the story focusing on two families: an idealistic country family in search of work within the dreariness of a crowded and dirty city and a local family, street-savvy, jaded and having strong survival skills. The story which focuses on the children of these two families, lays a background for the work of enigmatice poet and engraver, William Blake. It is a metaphor for his "Songs of Innocence and Experience".
For the most part, I have enjoyed Chevalier's other writings and found them to be engaging and insightful. This book, however, did not draw me in and carry me to another world and time, which was a disappointment. In its defense, it is clearly written, well-researched and paints a rather clear picture show more of the London of 1792 with its oppressive atmosphere, both literally and figuratively. This is not a bad read just not one of Chevalier's best. show less
For the most part, I have enjoyed Chevalier's other writings and found them to be engaging and insightful. This book, however, did not draw me in and carry me to another world and time, which was a disappointment. In its defense, it is clearly written, well-researched and paints a rather clear picture show more of the London of 1792 with its oppressive atmosphere, both literally and figuratively. This is not a bad read just not one of Chevalier's best. show less
My book club selected this fictionalized story about artist/poet William Blake, who I hadn't even heard of before reading this book. This story takes place in England during the late 1700s. In order to overcome a family tragedy, a small town family moves to the city where they become neighbors with Blake and his wife. This is a tale of young love, the circus, the French Revolution, and especially of innocence, experience, and the crazy space between the two. I loved it and will definitely read more books by her!
Burning Bright follows the Kellaway family as they leave behind tragedy (the accidental death of their son and brother) in rural Dorset and come to late 18th-century London. As they move in next door to the radical painter/poet William Blake, and take up work for a near-by circus impresario, the youngest family member gets to know a girl his age. Embodying opposite characteristics – Maggie Butterfield is a dark-haired, streetwise extrovert, Jem Kellaway a quiet blond introvert – the children form a strong bond while getting to know their unusual neighbor and his wife. Jem’s sister is besotted with the son of the circus owner, who leads her astray and gets her pregnant. The family leaves the city behind to return to the country.
Set show more against the backdrop of a city nervous of the revolution gone sour across the Channel in France, Burning Bright explores the states of innocence and experience just as Blake takes on similar themes in his best-known poems, Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
A little slow moving. A big book with not much happening! show less
Set show more against the backdrop of a city nervous of the revolution gone sour across the Channel in France, Burning Bright explores the states of innocence and experience just as Blake takes on similar themes in his best-known poems, Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
A little slow moving. A big book with not much happening! show less
I was a bit disappointed in this novel, having read The Lady and The Unicorn and Girl With A Pearl Earring before. It seems as if it has been written in a haste, and reading the comments of other people I think it is just not me that I noticed it. Some speak of "lack of passion", and whilst reading Girl With The Pearl Earring makes the one wish to read more about Vermeer, the same doesn't happen for William Blake, who lives just next door of the Kellaways family. I probably wouldn't have finished it if it had been any longer!
I have a love hate relationship w historical fiction.
I think i like mine w a firm twist of the speculative that was lacking here -
when I can't have that, I like it straight up - Morland Dynasty style - Harrod-eagles treatment of the same time period covered here was more to my taste.
This book reminded me a bit of the Dickens Faire - the research, the costumes, and scenery, even the music were well done but awareness of the whole affair being constructed as an entertainment precluded complete immersion for me .
*update after a weekend of indulgence in film*:
If you want your Blake postmodern, black and white, and set in the American West, then perhaps Johnny Depp in Dead Man will be more your speed?
I think i like mine w a firm twist of the speculative that was lacking here -
when I can't have that, I like it straight up - Morland Dynasty style - Harrod-eagles treatment of the same time period covered here was more to my taste.
This book reminded me a bit of the Dickens Faire - the research, the costumes, and scenery, even the music were well done but awareness of the whole affair being constructed as an entertainment precluded complete immersion for me .
*update after a weekend of indulgence in film*:
If you want your Blake postmodern, black and white, and set in the American West, then perhaps Johnny Depp in Dead Man will be more your speed?
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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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