Tracy Chevalier

My favorite literary discovery of 2010 was Tracy Chevalier. Her books are unfailingly beautiful and packed with meaning.
Chevalier's books are always two specific things (but she is such a truly talented author that these things are not necessarily apparent even after reading a few of her books). Each of her books is both historical fiction and feminist.

She is not an author who jumps from genre to genre as if trying to find her niche. She has found it. The historical elements in the books are well researched and brought vividly to life with seemingly no effort on Chevalier's part. And the stories are not feminist in the extreme sense of women abandoning men simply for the sake of exerting their independence, but rather they are the stories of girls and women who find the courage to make their own way in the world. Some do this quietly, like Griet in Girl with a Pearl Earring. Some do it loudly and outrageously like Mrs. Coleman in Falling Angels.
But these books are not so focused on women as to exclude well-drawn male characters. There are fascinating young boys in both Falling Angels and Burning Bright. There are famous painters and poets brought to life for us. And there are noble and good men who come to love the heroines, sometimes too late, but never too little.
I'm an audio book addict and listened to Falling Angels, Burning Bright, and Girl with a Pearl Earring while driving around. I sat down and read The Virgin Blue after inheriting it from a friend who was moving to California. And the thing that strikes me about Chevalier is that her books are magical both in paper and audio form. That's something that can't be said for every author.

Any way you experience them, her characters rip you apart with their tragedies and heartaches. Many people probably know Chevalier's work only through the movie version of Girl with a Pearl Earring. It's a decent movie and a fair attempt at capturing the spirit of the book, but as with most film adaptations, it just doesn't do the original work justice. Griet's struggles with her employer's family and friends seem to be barely touched upon in the film, while in the book the constant encroachments upon her property and even body are enough to wrack the nerves with sympathy.
I look forward to reading the two Tracy Chevalier books I haven't yet gotten to: The Lady and the Unicorn and her latest--Remarkable Creatures. For more information on Ms. Chevalier and any of her books, visit her website.