The Virgin Blue

De: Tracy Chevalier

Narrado por: Janine Carter, Gigi Marceau Clarke

Meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin, two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy. When Ella and her husband move to a small town in France, Ella hopes to brush up on her French, qualify to practice as a midwife, and start a family of her own. Village life turns out to be less idyllic than she expected, however, and a peculiar dream of the color blue propels her on a quest to uncover her family's French ancestry. As the novel unfolds - alternating between Ella's story and that of Isabelle du Moulin four hundred years earlier - a common thread emerges that unexpectedly links the two women. Part detective story, part historical fiction, The Virgin Blue is a novel of passion and intrigue that compels readers to the very end.©2002 Tracy Chevalier (P)2003 HighBridge Company

Reseñas de la Crítica

"...a triumph. Excellent." (Time Out)
"...it deserves an award." (The Independent)
"...beautifully crafted...shot with vivid colors." (The Times)

Wonderful listen!

I loved this book. The readers were excellent and the story was captivating. Part mystery, part romance, totally satisfying.

excellent listening, mediocre story

The setting is France, and the listening was greatly enhanced by the beautiful French accents of the readers of this novel. However, this is a slow-moving story. I love historical fiction, and the older story was much more interesting than the contemporary one. I found myself slogging through those sections and not liking the character nor the reader's petulant-sounding voice. I was impatient for the end, despite interesting plot twists along the way. Chevalier's other novels are far better than this one.

Time-spanning mystery

I like all of Chevalier's novels, and this one was no exception. Her style of telling the story from different points of view keeps things moving without being too confusing.

Loved it!

I loved listening to this book. It would have been difficult to read it (for me) because of the french, but listening to it was like music. This is my favorite Chevalier book so far. I enjoy her descriptive story-telling, makes you feel like you're right there with the characters.

Not Great But OK

This is not a bad book, but it is not a great choice either. The Girl with a Pearl Earing is a much better read.

Good r read bad ending

I enjoyed the book all the way up to the. Yep. That was what it was like

little predictable

Overall, the performance was great, and the story was interesting. The ending was a little predictable

Intriguing and so-slightly mystical

This story has a delicate charm which reflects its spiritual essence. While it doesn't wallow in religion and symbolism, it does pay homage to both Catholic idolatry and the Protestant Reformation, as well as the deeper, earthier nature-worship which has inspired women since before time. As ever with Ms. Chevalier, the settings, both present-day and centuries past, are scrupulously researched and painlessly recreated. Ella may not be the most sympathetic character in fiction, and Isabelle's history will pain and appall modern American women, but these are realistic people who conduct themselves in believeable fashion. I would still say that this book is unmistakeably "women's fiction", but don't misunderstand me; it is a very superior novel.

Tracy Chevalier is the able successor to Margaret Atwood. "Virgin Blue" lacks some of the humor of "Fallen Angels", perhaps, but the narrative is brilliantly wrought. And the two women responsible for reading the Audible version of this complicated story are absolutely without equals, and couldn't have done a more superb job.

Not Her Best

A mildly interesting story with very good narration. I learned a bit about the Huguenots, so that was good. The modern story was more interesting to me than the one from the middle ages, which was confusing to me.

Most enjoyable

for me this was was hard to put down or turn off as the case may be.
At first I wasn't sure of the connection between Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin but the more I listened the more interested I became and the more I wanted to hear. I read 2 books by this author and have REALLY enjoyed both. I would strongly recommend The Virgin Blue and and The Girl With The Pearl Earring. I plan to listen to or read more of Tracy C.