The Glass Maker by Tracy Chevalier

I just finished listening to The Glass Maker. The structure of this remarkable novel expresses the fluidity of time while providing a wide canvas for the author to paint the history of Venice and Murano. We see through the eyes of Orsola Rossi, whose glass making family have lived and worked on Murano for centuries.

This riveting family saga begins in the 1400s, depicting the time of the Black Plague and carrying on through wars and floods and ages to COVID and beyond.

The story highlights the vicissitudes of life in Murano and Venice. We learn about the quarantine island, though we do not see it.

The Muranesi are attached to their island and rarely go beyond Venice, La Serenissima, where they sell their glass. Initially, it is unheard of for a Rossi to visit terra firma; they see the mainland as a foreign place.

This gradually changes with the advent of trains and telephones and electricity. Eventually motor launches replace most of the gondolas rowed by men in traditional gondoliers’ costumes.

As she did in Remarkable Creatures and The Girl with the Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier has brilliantly conveyed us into a past time and place shown us what life might have been like for the people who lived there.

Listening to this book, I learned a lot of historic detail about Venice and Murano. It was a special delight to be able to picture the place easily, as I visited Venice this past May on a choral tour. To see some of my pictures, see the photo blog here.