Most readers will remember Chevalier’s widely read Girl with a Pearl Earring, a look at the artist Vermeer, and a particular creative examination of what his relationship with the subject of that painting might have been. If you read that book, you gain insight into the labor and lives of women of that time, how they were responsible for keeping households running in every way: constant laundry, preparing food, cleaning, making what was needed, raising children. Chevalier does her research, and shows the reader what went into daily living before modern conveniences. She also gets into the mind of a creator, to see the technical challenges and artistic mentality needed to create beautiful objects. In this novel, Chevalier focuses on the glass makers of Murano, Italy, both the men who made everything from goblets, vases to chandeliers; and the women who made the glass beads worn by wealthy women and traded around the world.

Chevalier wanted to create a family, one generation of glass makers and their joys and travails; yet still show the changes in Murano and Venice, from Renaissance to the present day. She uses the metaphor of a skipping stone on water, appropriate given the culture of this place is wedded to water. The stone skips, making contact when the story moves forward another century, yet the family has a normal lifespan. Such is the magic of Venice, a place removed from the normal movement of time on terra firma. We follow the Rosso family, in particular Orsolo Rossa, daughter of the maestro of the glass making family. She is fascinated by the process of glass making that her brothers learn from their father, but is banished from the workshop. She meets a real person, Maria Barovier, renowned for her glass bead work, a method involving an oil-powered lamp at a kitchen table, made easy for women to fold into their busy lives. Maria is a rare woman, her bead designs famous worldwide, who sets Orsolo up to learn the art with her cousin.

The reader will learn the procedures used by men to shape exquisite art and practical objects; also the development of lamp work, and how women created all manner of beads for jewelry and fashion over the centuries. We also watch family dynamics, how the craft is passed between generations, and how the industry changes over time. This is dramatized by the competition between siblings, Marco and Orsolo, and her constant desire for respect and appreciation. We follow major events in Venice, from the visitation of the Black Death plague, the conquering by Napoleon, World Wars, and a sprinkling of visits from other historic figures. Chevalier maintains the focus, does not overdo these insertions, but keeps it relevant to her story, Orsolo, the family, and the craft of glass making.

You will gain a love for Venice and Murano, as Chevalier surely did during her research visits. The uniqueness of a place built on water, with very old buildings, no cars, and old traditions of Church, culture, and custom, centered around the water, Venice and Murano are separate from the rest of the world, and time has its own slow pace, ideal for the creation of art. It is a lovely story, and I enjoyed spending time there, learning about that magical place.