FROM THE GLOBALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING 'A triumph... a brilliant idea carried out with confidence and brio and a deep love of an extraordinary city. The ingenuity of the time-skipping is beyond admiration' PHILIP PULLMAN 'Spellbinding.... Chevalier at her fabulous best. A rich, vivid and gently enchanting novel' ELIF SHAFAK Venice, 1486. Across the lagoon lies Murano. Time flows differently here - like the glass the island's maestros spend their lives learning to handle. Women are not meant to work with glass, but Orsola Rosso flouts convention to save her family from ruin. She works in secret, knowing her creations must be perfect to be accepted by men. But perfection may take a lifetime. Skipping like a stone through the centuries, we follow Orsola as she hones her craft through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss. The beads she creates will adorn the necks of empresses and courtesans from Paris to Vienna - but will she ever earn the respect of those closest to her? Tracy Chevalier is a master of her own craft, and The Glassmaker is vivid, inventive, spellbinding: a virtuoso portrait of a woman, a family and a city that are as everlasting as their glass.
Massimo Ortelio Volgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)






Pandora : a novel in three parts
- 352bladzijden
- 13 uur lezen
There is a fine line between coincidence and fate... In London 1799, Dora Blake is an aspiring jewellery artist who lives with her uncle in what used to be her parents' famed shop of antiquities. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigued by her uncle's suspicious behaviour and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young man seeking acceptance into the Society of Antiquaries. Edward sees the ancient vase as key to unlocking his academic future. Dora sees it as her chance to restore her parents' shop to its former glory, and to escape her uncle. But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning everything she has ever known, about her life, her family and the world as she knows it. As Dora uncovers the truth she starts to realise that some mysteries are buried, and some boxes are locked, for a reason. Gorgeously atmospheric and deliciously page-turning, Pandora deals with themes of secrets and deception, love and fulfilment, fate and hope.
It is 1932, and the losses of the First World War are still keenly felt. Violet Speedwell, mourning for both her fiance and her brother and regarded by society as a 'surplus woman' unlikely to marry, resolves to escape her suffocating mother and strike out alone. A new life awaits her in Winchester. Yes, it is one of draughty boarding-houses and sidelong glances at her naked ring finger from younger colleagues; but it is also a life gleaming with independence and opportunity. Violet falls in with the broderers, a disparate group of women charged with embroidering kneelers for the Cathedral, and is soon entwined in their lives and their secrets. As the almost unthinkable threat of a second Great War appears on the horizon Violet collects a few secrets of her own that could just change everything... Warm, vivid and beautifully orchestrated, A Single Thread reveals one of our finest modern writers at the peak of her powers.
The lady and the unicorn
- 256bladzijden
- 9 uur lezen
Interweaves historical fact with fiction to explore the mystery behind the creation of the remarkable Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, woven at the end of the fifteenth century, which today hang in the Cluny Museum in Paris.
Paris Echo
- 320bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
American academic Hannah and runaway Moroccan teenager Tariq have little in common, yet both find themselves haunted by the ghosts of Paris. Hannah listens to the extraordinary witness of women living under the German Occupation and finds a city bursting with clues, connections and past love affairs, while in the migrant suburbs Tariq is searching for a mother he barely knew.
Eerste liefde
- 416bladzijden
- 15 uur lezen
Charlie Lewis is het soort jongen dat je je niet kunt herinneren als je hem op de schoolfoto ziet staan. In de klas is hij geen uitblinker en thuis gaat al zijn aandacht naar de zorg voor zijn werkloze vader. Terwijl zijn klasgenoten reikhalzend uitkijken naar de aankomende zomer, ziet Charlie niets dan donkere wolken aan de horizon. Dan komt de intrigerende Fran Fisher in zijn leven en krijgt Charlie voor het eerst in tijden weer hoop. Om haar beter te leren kennen, wordt hij lid van de serieuze toneelgroep, waar zij Shakespeare-rollen speelt. Deze zomer pakt heel anders uit dan hij zich had voorgesteld.
Melmoth
- 288bladzijden
- 11 uur lezen
From the author of the bestselling The Essex Serpent comes a darkly inventive and deeply moving novel that speaks urgently to our times.
At the Edge of the Orchard
- 304bladzijden
- 11 uur lezen
The sweeping and compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. Dark, brutal, moving, powerful' Jane Harris A wonderful book; rich, evocative, original. I loved it' Joanne Harris
A Summer of Drowning
- 329bladzijden
- 12 uur lezen
At a critical point in her career, painter Angelika Rossdal suddenly moves to Kvaloya, a small island deep in the Arctic Circle, to dedicate herself to the solitary pursuit of her craft. She takes her young daughter with her. Things take a dark turn - is there something supernatural happening on the island?
Remarkable Creatures
- 303bladzijden
- 11 uur lezen
From the New York Times bestselling novelist, a stunning historical novel that follows the story of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, two extraordinary 19th century fossil hunters who changed the scientific world forever. On the windswept, fossil-strewn beaches of the English coast, poor and uneducated Mary learns that she has a unique gift: "the eye" to spot ammonites and other fossils no one else can see. When she uncovers an unusual fossilized skeleton in the cliffs near her home, she sets the religious community on edge, the townspeople to gossip, and the scientific world alight. After enduring bitter cold, thunderstorms, and landslips, her challenges only grow when she falls in love with an impossible man. Mary soon finds an unlikely champion in prickly Elizabeth, a middle-class spinster who shares her passion for scouring the beaches. Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy, but ultimately turns out to be their greatest asset. From the author of At the Edge of the Orchard and Girl With a Pearl Earring comes this incredible story of two remarkable women and their voyage of discovery.
Wij
- 418bladzijden
- 15 uur lezen
Douglas Peterson wordt midden in de nacht door zijn vrouw Connie gewekt met het bericht dat ze hem wil verlaten. Hun zoon Albie gaat na de zomer het huis uit om te studeren en zij vindt dat het de hoogste tijd is om te scheiden, nu hun ouderlijke taak erop zit. Douglas houdt van zijn vrouw en het vooruitzicht van een leven alleen jaagt hem angst aan. Maar hij heeft nog een kans. Er staat nog een familievakantie gepland, een Europese rondreis langs steden als Parijs, Barcelona en Amsterdam. Hij besluit dat dit de trip van hun leven moet worden: de vakantie die hen weer nader tot elkaar zal brengen, waarin hij het respect van zijn zoon en de liefde van zijn vrouw terugwint. De hotels zijn geboekt, de tickets gekocht, de route uitgestippeld. Wat kan er nu in hemelsnaam nog misgaan?
The stunning new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring.
As she sits in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance, nearly four decades previously, with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved.Back in 1888, the young, art-loving, Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes - leading to a notorious criminal trial - the promise and certainties of this world all too rapidly disorientate into mystery and deception.Featuring a memorable cast of characters, infused with atmosphere and period detail, and shot through with wicked humour, Gillespie and I is a tour de force from one of the emerging names of British fiction.
Caleb's Crossing
- 306bladzijden
- 11 uur lezen
Pulitzer Prize winning-author Geraldine Brooks transports the reader to 1660s Martha's Vineyard and Cambridge to tell the dramatic tale of the intertwined destinies of Caleb Cheshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard, and Bethia Mayfield, a young woman who is struggling to find her own place in the world even as she helps enable Caleb to cross from his world into hers.
De lunch van de roeiers
- 496bladzijden
- 18 uur lezen
Susan Vreeland schetst met een verrukkelijk palet van levendige, beminnelijke karakters een schitterend portret van een tijd vol verlangen. Het schilderij: 'De lunch van de roeiers' van Renoir uit 1881 verbeeldt een gezelschap vrienden op een zomers terras aan de Seine. Een rijke schilder, een kunstverzamelaar, een Italiaanse journalist, een oorlogsheld, een gevierd actrice en Renoirs toekomstige vrouw delen dit moment uit 'la vie moderne'. Het verhaal: Persoonlijke crises in zowel de liefde als de kunst weerhouden Renoir er niet van gepassioneerd het meest uitdagende project van zijn leven aan te gaan. Tegen de achtergrond van discussies over schilderstijlen, vertellen Renoir en zeven van zijn modellen hun verhaal.
Clara and Mr. Tiffany
- 405bladzijden
- 15 uur lezen
Set against the vibrant backdrop of late 19th-century New York, this extraordinary novel brings to life a woman once overshadowed by her male counterparts. In 1893, at the Chicago World’s Fair, Louis Comfort Tiffany unveils his innovative stained-glass windows, aiming to elevate his family business. Behind the scenes in his New York studio, however, is Clara Driscoll, the head of Tiffany's women’s division, who is instrumental in designing the iconic leaded-glass lamps that define his legacy. Despite her crucial contributions, Clara remains publicly unrecognized, grappling with her desire for artistic acknowledgment and the challenges of being a professional woman in a male-dominated field. Her struggle leads her to protest against the company she has dedicated herself to, while she also navigates her yearning for love and companionship with five different men, including Tiffany, who imposes strict rules against hiring married women. Ultimately, Clara faces a pivotal choice between her professional ambitions and her personal desires, reflecting the broader struggles of women in her era.
People of the Book
- 400bladzijden
- 14 uur lezen
The novel tells the fictional story of Hanna Heath, an Australian book conservator who is responsible for restoring the Haggadah. The story alternates between sections set in the present day with Heath and other sections showing the history of the Haggadah.
In ongenade / druk 3
- 469bladzijden
- 17 uur lezen
Italië 1570. Na een verboden liefdesrelatie wordt de zestienjarige Serafina door haar familie in het klooster van Santa Caterina in Ferrara ondergebracht. Met haar intrede komt de stabiliteit in de gemeenschap van vrome zusters en zelfkastijdende nonnen in gevaar, want het meisje is vaastbesloten te ontsnappen. Terwijl de Kerk door de Contrareformatie tot verandering wordt gedwongen, ontsteekt Serafina's fanatieke verzet binnen de kloostermuren een vuur dat razendsnel om zich heen grijpt en de hele gemeenschap dreigt te verzengen.
De vrouw van de boekbinder / druk 1
- 430bladzijden
- 16 uur lezen
Londen, 1859. Tegen de tijd dat Dora Damage erachter komt dat het niet goed gaat met haar echtgenoot is het al te laat. Zijn handen zijn inmiddels helemaal vergroeid door reumatische artritis, en daardoor dreigt zijn boekbindersbedrijf ten onder te gaan. Het komt zo ver dat zijn gezin bijna het armenhuis in moet. Dora staat alleen voor een bijna onmogelijke taak. Ze moet al haar moed bijeeenrapen om te bewijzen dat ze meer is dan alleen huisvrouw en moeder. Ze wil koste wat kost haar gezin voor de ondergang behoeden, en wanneer dan ook een stel aristocratische losbollen haar vraagt pornografisch werk te binden, is ze maar even uit het veld geslagen. Ze herpakt zichzelf snel en gaat aan het werk. Maar dan klopt er een mysterieuze gevluchte slaaf bij haar aan voor werk en ze realiseert zich dat ze verstrikt zit in een web van seks, geld en bedrog. Nu wordt haar gezin, waarvoor ze zo hard vocht, bedreigd door nieuwe, nog duisterder krachten... In levendig geschreven proza vertelt Belinda Starling over een moedige vrouw die een mannenberoep uitoefende in een tijd waarin dat voor vrouwen verboden was, tegen het ontluisterende decor van het Victoriaanse Londen.
De onschuld
- 382bladzijden
- 14 uur lezen
Burning Bright follows the Kellaway family as they leave behind tragedy in rural Dorset and come to late 18th-century London. As they move in next door to the radical painter/poet William Blake, and take up work for a near-by circus impresario, the youngest family member gets to know a girl his age. Embodying opposite characteristics — Maggie Butterfield is a dark-haired, streetwise extrovert, Jem Kellaway a quiet blond introvert — the children form a strong bond while getting to know their unusual neighbor and his wife. Set against the backdrop of a city nervous of the revolution gone sour across the Channel in France, Burning Bright explores the states of innocence and experience just as Blake takes on similar themes in his best-known poems, Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Het geheim van de zusters
- 464bladzijden
- 17 uur lezen
Door de ogen van een ruim 90-jarige archeologe, ooit dienstmeisje op een landgoed, komen de fascinerende gebeurtenissen rond daar twee aan het begin van de 20e eeuw opgroeiende zusjes, inclusief hun grote geheim, tot leven.
The observations
- 432bladzijden
- 16 uur lezen
A darkly humorous and intriguing story of one woman's journey from a difficult past into an even more disturbing present.
The Lambs of London
- 228bladzijden
- 8 uur lezen
At the centre of this intriguing, irresistible novel are the young Lambs: Charles, constrained by the tedium of his work as a clerk at the East India Company, taking refuge in a drink or three too many while spreading his wings as a young writer, and his clever, adoring sister Mary, confined by domesticity, an ailing, dotty father and a maddening mother- Into their lives comes William Ireland, an ambitious 17-year-old antiquarian and bookseller, anxious not only to impress his demanding showman of a father, but to make his mark on the literary world. When Ireland turns up a document in the handwriting of Shakespeare himself, he takes Mary into his confidence - but soon scholars and actors alike are beating a path to the little bookshop in Holborn Passage. Touching and tragic, ingenious, funny and vividly alive, this is Ackroyd at the top of his form in a masterly retelling of a nineteenth-century drama which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.
The compelling story of two women, born centuries apart, and the ancestral legacy that binds them.

















