The Virgin Blue

by Tracy Chevalier | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0007108273 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingpippiswing of Turku, Varsinais-Suomi / Egentliga Finland Finland on 5/23/2012
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5 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingpippiswing from Turku, Varsinais-Suomi / Egentliga Finland Finland on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
When American Ella Turner moves with her husband to Lisle-sur-Tarn, a small town in southwestern France, she hopes to qualify to practice as a midwife as well as to start a family of her own. Instead she is disrupted by less-than-idyllic village life and strange dreams of the color blue. Haunted by sleepless nights, bewildered by her unwelcoming neighbors, Ella tries to forge a bond with her new home by investigating her French ancestors, with the help of seductive librarian Jean-Paul. Ella’s research takes her to the Cévennes, isolated mountains in the south and the birthplace of the Tournier/Turner family.

16th-century peasant Isabelle du Moulin, known as La Rousse for her red hair, is suspected of witchcraft and tormented for her association with the Virgin Mary even after she and the rest of the village have converted to the “Truth” – the new Protestantism as preached by Calvin’s ministers. When she becomes pregnant, she has no choice but to marry into the powerful Tournier family. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew in Paris sends waves of persecution throughout France, and the Tourniers are forced to flee their home near Le Pont de Montvert for a new life in the Swiss town of Moutier. Old ways follow them there, however, and Isabelle's final shocking fate lies undiscovered — until Ella Turner's arrival four centuries later…

***
Chevalier has the magic to create enchanting re-enactments of worlds long gone, but unfortunately not to describe the present or to combine them. The connection between Ella and Isabelle just didn't seem credible and the family connection from 17th century to present day seemed so minuscule that I couldn't buy the story, which I'm sorry to say. I would have rather read more of Isabelle's fate and then taken only a short glimpse at Ella, as Isabelle and her faith were far more interesting than a pseudo-French lost woman who knows nothing about people.
What I still don't understand, is the book's cover. Yes, the lady has auburn hair, but the painting's dating makes no sense when it comes to a connection to the book.

Journal Entry 2 by wingpippiswing at Turku, Varsinais-Suomi / Egentliga Finland Finland on Sunday, July 1, 2012

Released 11 yrs ago (7/2/2012 UTC) at Turku, Varsinais-Suomi / Egentliga Finland Finland

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Book's hitching a ride in a box of books, hopefully it ends up on CandyDarling's hands eventually :)

Journal Entry 3 by winghippoleinwing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
A full box of books arrived in Helsinki, thanks a lot pippis!

varattu CandyDarlingille!

Journal Entry 4 by winghippoleinwing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Released 11 yrs ago (7/10/2012 UTC) at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland

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Passed on from Turku
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Going to CandyDarling next

Journal Entry 5 by CandyDarling at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Thank you for the wishlist book! I've previously read The Lady and the Unicorn and Remarkable Creatures by the same author, and I loved them both.

Journal Entry 6 by CandyDarling at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Tuesday, July 14, 2015
I read this book in June on my holiday, and I must say I was a little bit disappointed. The story was okay, but not at all as magical and captivating as I expected from Tracy Chevalier. This is her first book, so maybe she hadn't yet fully developed as a writer...

I agree with everything pippis says in her review. The connection between the past and the present was very thin, and I found it implausible, that Ella would have been able to find out what really happened to Isabelle in the past. It was disturbing that in the end it felt like Ella was supposed to know as much as the reader about what happened to Isabelle.

The back cover says that Isabelle was forced to marry the man who bullied her, and her story is not uplifting reading. I guess I wasn't really in the mood to read about how horrible life could be in the past when you had no escape, or about how difficult things can be in the present, when you have nothing but time.

I'm glad to have read this, but I don't see myself picking it up ever again. I hope the next book by Tracy Chevalier will be better. ;)

Journal Entry 7 by CandyDarling at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Released 8 yrs ago (7/14/2015 UTC) at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland

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Vapautin Helsingin miitissä. Lukuiloa!

Journal Entry 8 by wingtoukokuuwing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Thanks for this book!

Journal Entry 9 by wingtoukokuuwing at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Friday, November 13, 2015
I'm marking this available today, because I want to clear some books from my shelf that I probably will not have time to read. Might still read this one... we'll see.

EDIT in the end of February 2016:

I can relate to what pippis and CandyDarling thought of this book.. It had some interesting themes but in the end it felt somehow superficial. I got caught in the mystery of the connection between these two women and how her past ancestor's destiny haunted Ella. I equally enjoyed reading about both women. French village life in modern times and Ella's attempt to fit in and her struggle's in her marriage kept me interested. The tragic events in Isabelle's times left me wondering what kind of superstitious practises where really going on in Tournier's family? What was the point in the magic that her mother-in-law refered to?

Journal Entry 10 by wingtoukokuuwing at Espoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Monday, March 7, 2016

Released 8 yrs ago (3/7/2016 UTC) at Espoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland

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I sent this to Melodramma via mail. Enjoy your wishlist book! EDIT 12.3.2016 I'm glad our post system is able to forward mail when addresses change. That's why I decided to take a risk with your old address Melodramma.

Journal Entry 11 by Melodramma at Espoo, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Thursday, March 10, 2016
Book arrived today. Thank you so much, toukokuu. I have moved to a new address, but luckily this book found me.

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