The Tiffany Girls

Shelley Noble's 23rd novel, The Tiffany Girls, is a historical fiction account about an unknown group of female artists behind Tiffany’s legendary glassworks. It is the first book of hers that I have read and I loved it.

The publisher's summary:

It’s 1899, and Manhattan is abuzz. Louis Comfort Tiffany, famous for his stained-glass windows, is planning a unique installation at the Paris World’s Fair, the largest in history. At their fifth-floor studio on Fourth Avenue, the artists of the Women’s Division of the Tiffany Glass Company are already working longer shifts to finish the pieces that Tiffany hopes will prove that he is the world’s finest artist in glass. Known as the “Tiffany Girls,” these women are responsible for show more much of the design and construction of Tiffany’s extraordinary glassworks, but none receive credit.

Emilie Pascal, daughter of an art forger, has been shunned in Paris art circles after the unmasking of her abusive father. Wanting nothing more than a chance to start a new life, she forges a letter of recommendation in hopes of fulfilling her destiny as an artist in the one place where she will finally be free to live her own life.

Grace Griffith is the best copyist in the studio, spending her days cutting glass into floral borders for Tiffany’s religious stained-glass windows. But none of her coworkers know her secret: she is living a double life as a political cartoonist under the pseudonym of G.L. Griffith—hiding her identity as a woman.

As manager of the women’s division, Clara Driscoll is responsible for keeping everything on schedule and within budget. But in the lead-up to the most important exhibition of her career, not only are her girls becoming increasingly difficult to wrangle, she finds herself obsessed with a new design: a dragonfly lamp that she has no idea will one day become Tiffany’s signature piece.

Brought together by chance, driven by their desire to be artists in one of the only ways acceptable for women in their time, these “Tiffany Girls” will break the glass ceiling of their era and for working women to come.

This story was told well. I must admit that part of the reason I loved it so much was because I am an artist. The Tiffany Girls were artists as well. I enjoyed reading about how they selected different colors of glass for the sections of the windows that they worked on. We read about Tiffany’s Four Seasons glass windows as well as his Magnolia window. The ladies who were new employees started out as cutters which surprised me. Cutting glass shapes is not easy let alone when you have to follow a drawing of what shapes and colors go where. Some of the advanced artists performed design work for Mr. Tiffany and I have to wonder whether Tiffany created his designs or hired others to dream them up. The Acknowledgments don't tell us this information. Another intriguing part of the story is that Mr. Tiffany housed and paid his female artists the same amount he paid his male employees. Again, the Acknowledgments don't tell us if this is true either.

The characters were drawn well. Grace surprised me the most. I couldn't understand why she wanted to work with Tiffany when she really wanted to pursue journalism. There was a disconnect for me here as art is so different from brainy work. Emilie was the character I couldn't help but root for. Her dream was to work for Tiffany. She planned her life so that this could be accomplished. Emilie had to save to afford the passenger ship from Paris to New York. When Emilie arrived in New York she immediately went to Tiffany’s studio to ask for a job. Of course, she got the job but I thought she was rather plucky to follow her dream so closely with no backup plan.

This book is a must read. show less

I so enjoyed this novel; I love a good historical fiction that teaches me. My mom always loved Tiffany Lamps. I didn't know much about them except they were expensive. This novel introduces us to the Tiffany Girls. The audio was fantastic!

Emilie Pascal hurriedly leaves Paris to escape being arrested in place of her criminal father and comes to New York City to work for Louis Comfort Tiffany. Emilie is a true artist, which has always helped her father. He made fake paintings, and she had to finish them at times. From the forgeries, she has learned color and technique and even attends a prestigious art school in Paris. She never wants to return. The teachers at the school are short-sighted and pretentious, not liking any new styles. To show more learn this new art--glass art--and to get away from her father and being arrested, Emilie faces her future in New York with excitement.

In New York, Clara Driscoll handles the hiring of the Tiffany Girls and designs for him, but it's a hard job. Women can't work if they are married, so she keeps losing girls to marriage. Mr. Tiffany wants to exhibit in the Paris World's Fair, so they have many pieces to create. Clara needs more girls--girls who can cut glass with precision--girls with art skills. Emilie arrives exhausted and faints from the heat and lack of hydration and food. The girls quickly help her; she's hired on a temporary basis and they take her to live with them in their boarding house.

In this novel, you learn how the glass is made, what Mr. Tiffany was like, what the girls could do, and what life is like for single women in 1899 in New York City. Emilie admires Mr. Tiffany and enjoys sparring with him over which glass color to select. How they make the colored glass is top secret, but they do get to see it all and select what color to use in the designs they are creating. Mr. Tiffany recognizes her talent. Emilie's roommate is an artist as well: a cartoonist. She creates the designs from which the glass will then cover. She's also a political cartoonist. She goes to events around the city at night and creates her own political cartoons. Eventually, she gets paid for them because the newspaper assumes she's a man. The reporter she partners with knows the truth, but he believes in her abilities and keeps mum. He thinks that they'll accept her, but she's afraid to try.

You also get to see the Paris World's Fair at the end of the novel, which is fun. You see what the "new" ideas were for the time period and what they thought the future would be. The epilogue tells what happens to the characters in life and the ones who truly existed. I loved it! show less

Told in the perspective of three women, this story takes readers on an adventure through the creation of Tiffany glassworks.
Emilie Pascal escapes from her home in Paris when gendarmes knock on the door. They were looking for her father, Dominique Andre Pascal, an art forger but Emilie knows that she can be punished for his crime. With her portfolio in her hands, she takes a ship to New York and finds employment with Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. Soon enough her artistic talent is noticed by Mr. Tiffany and Emilie is assigned to work on the most important window glass art, The Four Seasons. Beside her, a talented Grace Griffith is working as a copyist and after work she secretly acts as a political cartoonist under the pseudonym show more of G.L. Griffith. Her identity couldn't be revealed as woman journalists were not approved. Both Emilie and Grace became friends joined by other girls working for Mr. Tiffany and living in the boardinghouse with a lovely and caring landlady Mrs. Bertolucci. Under the supervision of the talented manager of the women's division, Clara Driscoll, the Tiffany girls create a unique art of stained glass. At the same time Clara works diligently on her new design of dragonfly lamp.

I wanted to hold this book in my hands all the time and dive into the Tiffany’s world where I could bend over the glass, cut it, or choose the right piece together with the Tiffany girls. I like to read about history of art and this historical event of Tiffany glassworks was greatly researched and skillfully presented to readers. Mr. Tiffany, Clara Driscoll, and Agnes Northrop are real people who started the creation of Tiffany glassworks. The other characters are fictional but expertly drawn and unforgettable. The author skillfully implemented suspense, mystery and romance around women who desired to work and pursue their passion in a world full of men. Beautifully written a must-read book that I recommend to my friends, especially historical fiction fans. show less

The Tiffany Girls -Shelley Nobel
3.5 stars

This is the second book I’ve read about the women who worked in the glass atelier of Louis Comfort Tiffany. I enjoyed the book, although it was a bit predictable.

The story begins with a young French woman who flees Paris with a ruined reputation. She is an artist of some experience (not all of it legal) and is determined to build a career in America helping to create Tiffany’s beautiful works of glass. She joins the ‘girls’ of the workshop and finds a place in a boarding house with 5 of them. Nobel uses this group of young women to explore feminist issues at the turn of the 20th century. She makes the point the Tiffany was ahead of the field in his treatment of working women, paying show more them as well as male employees, although they were not permitted to stay employed if they married. Some of the women see marriage as an ultimate goal, but others have more radical ideas. The New York City and Paris settings and the changing historical background made the story more interesting.

The most satisfying parts of the book were the descriptions of the art. The personalities of the girls were imagined by the author, but the glass work can be viewed online or with a museum visit. Much of the female contributions to the completed projects are completely anonymous. A fairly recent discovery of letters by Clara Driscoll, the head of Tiffany’s Woman’s division, are the basis of the author’s story. Another good book about the female workers is Vreeland’s Clara and Mr Tiffany. show less

Louis Comfort Tiffany was a man before his time in hiring women and treating them with respect, decent wages and a good work environment. This novel follows three women who all play a role in bringing fame and fortune to the Tiffany Glass Co. with their dedication to Mr. Tiffany, their work and to show the world they are the best at what they do, at the Paris World's Fair. They have been working months for this opportunity and now that it is here, it is hard to believe but a secret and past of one of their own could bring everything into question and stain the Tiffany name. This was such a great read, with each women also having a secret of their sprinkled through out the story line. I very much enjoyed reading about all the elements show more that went into the glass making as well as how Tiffany ran his workshops and really was a respectable man. Thank you to Suzy Approved Book Tours for the invite and to the author and publisher for the free novel. This review is of my own opinion and accord. show less

Emilie Pascal finds herself on the run after her abusive father is revealed as an art forger. She flees to America with the hope of working at Tiffany. She is able to pursue her love of art without drawing attention to her own name. She begins to learn the art of glass design as she becomes close with her fellow boarding house dwellers and loses contact with her previous life. She also learns to navigate the mercurial temper of Louis Tiffany and to avoid being seen by those in the global art world.

When she and her roommate are tapped to be part of the Paris Exposition team, Emilie's fears again resurface. Will she be arrested? Should she visit old friends that she has left behind? As the exhibit brings prestige to Tiffany, Emilie finds show more her old life creeping in and worries about the outcomes. show less

The audiobook, ready by Caroline Hewitt, was so engaging and delightful to listen to. Loved learning more about the world of Tiffany glass as I've heard about it forever but didn't really know how it was designed and made. Definitely recommend this story.