Girl in Hyacinth Blue Review

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Girl in Hyacinth Blue ReviewThe concept of this novel, tracing the history of a painting by going back in time chapter by chapter, is just my cup of tea. Susan Vreeland has done an excellent job in transferring this unique notion to paper. I've always enjoyed antiques and wondered about its origination; Girl in Hyacinth Blue was like a dream come true in that respect.
The story begins with math professor, Cornelius Engelbrecht. He was bequeathed a painting from his father, who claims it a masterpiece by the Dutch artist Vermeer. There are no papers to prove this statement; however, the bigger picture is the way Cornelius's father obtained the painting...a way that has haunted him all his life.
Each chapter moves back in time to the previous owner of the painting. Readers follow the painting from the wall of Cornelius's father to the actual inspiration and creation of it. Each vignette houses new sets of characters with the painting as its central core. Slowly, with each turning page, we reveal another part of the painting's history, layer by layer, and what it has meant to the people whose lives it touched.
Girl in Hyacinth Blue made for a wonderful reading experience. I recommend this novel to those who enjoy lovely period pieces or like getting to the bare bones of a story. A very in depth and beautiful premise. I have Susan's next book on my list.Girl in Hyacinth Blue Overview

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Color: A Natural History of the Palette Review

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Color: A Natural History of the Palette ReviewI thoroughly enjoyed this reportage, where Victoria tracks down the origns of so many colours I knew from my childhood paintbox and later days with an aniline dyestuff manufacturer. However good the book is, and I highly recommend this to anyone interested in colourants and their origins, I was left wanting more......an upto date Part 2 please, to answer the questions that were left unanswered such as, "Is the lack of vivid bright orange just a reaction to the 60' & 70's overuse or is it still the case that cadmium orange (which does not get a mention) has not been replaced with anything quite as powerful? and what are the colours we now use in our paint boxes, wallpapers and so on?"
Why am I posing these questions, well Victoria is just the person to tell us auhtoritatively & accurately. I only had a few quibbles with the entire 400+ pages, one was an editor's slip that allowed India to be separated into Bangladesh, India & Pakistan in 1947! Which I am sure the author knows was not quite the instant route it seems (first it was the eastern half of the division known as Pakistan i.e. East Pakistan which then separated in 1971 I believe from West Pakistan and became Bangladesh). Another was the rather simlplistic way she refers to chemical formulas, yes of course AsS is a combination of 1 molecule each of arsenic & sulphur whereas As2S3 combines in the ratio of 2:3, however whether this means in fact the latter is any more poisonous than the former can not be assumed from the chemical formula....if I remember my chemistry correctly you need to understand which is more soluble in water or most readily adsorbed in the stomach (a solution of HCl I believe). If the author has confirmed this it was not clear from the text and copiuous and excellent notes. Lead as usual gets a poor press, it would have been nice to see it labelled as harmless until compounds are airborne and/or actually disolved. Lastly I really enjoyed reading about FDA "enforced inks" (as in tattoo inks. In my days of permitted food & cosmetic colours the term was "FDA Approved", however the process of approval and batch certification would no doubt be viewed as enforcement by many I suspect!
Please don't let my minor quibbles spoil a interesting, unique and very accurate book which I found a delight to read and one I look forward to re-reading, somehting I hardly ever do - life is too short!

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