The Glassmaker
Out of the Renaissance and the islands of Murano have come the world’s premier glass artisans, with Venice as the leading trade center. Each Murano family has their own secret recipes and techniques that are fiercely guarded and strictly confined to the island. Nine-year-old Orsola is the daughter of the Rosso glassmaking family. She is fascinated with the fire, sand, ash, and skill that combine to make the beautiful works of color and beauty. But the workshops and furnaces are strictly men’s domain. Orsola has the rare opportunity to learn the art of making glass beads. The glass is heated and shaped by a lamp and bellows, not the fierce fire of the furnace. This lampwork is disregarded by men and the beads as trivial “mouse shit.” But this women’s work is what puts food on the Rosso table as the production of significant glasswork faulters and wanes.
Chevalier plays with the passage of time across centuries as she tells the story of the Rosso family and Murano glass. Beginning in 1486, during the height of glassmaking, Venice is the world’s hub for exporting Murano’s glass. As the narrative skips to 1574, 1631, 1755, 1797, 1915, 2019, and 2024, we learn how world events and the expansion of glassmaking to other countries impacted the industry, Murano, and Venice. We see the ins and outs, ups and downs of glassmaking – especially beadmaking. It is Orsola, her family, and “those who matter” to her who, across 450 years, only age 60 years. We follow the Rossos through births, deaths, famine, wars, plagues, and economic changes. This is a clever and unique way to immerse the reader in the lives of a family while seeing the trajectory of glassmaking across centuries. Not only does Chevalier give us noteworthy characters and an immersive plot, she manipulates time expertly and believably: a remarkable read.
