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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The magnetic pull of the past, January 13, 2004
The Virgin Blue is indicative of the author's love of art and history, the plot marginally less sophisticated than her later and more successful novel, The Girl with the Pearl Earring. As a first effort, this novel certainly shows the author's burgeoning talent. In a plot that has become quite familiar in recent fiction, the story contrasts the life of a young woman in France with a distant relative who lived four centuries earlier, under much harsher conditions. Ella Turner moves to France with her architect husband, Rick. Not far from where the couple settles in Lise-sur-Tarn, Isabelle du Moulin married Etienne Tournier when pregnant with their child, in 15th-Century France. At the time of Isabelle's marriage, France is suffering through the religious upheavals that are scouring the countryside, as strict Calvinist sects wrench themselves away from the Catholic Church, intent upon purifying the religion. Still, there are holdouts scattered throughout the country, mostly in the north, were the fleeing refugees resettle, driven from their lands, their farms and goods burned to the ground. Known in her village since a child as "La Rousse", Isabelle is now shamed by her flaming red hair, the object of unwanted attention. It is said that the Virgin had red hair, a mark of the Papacy. Isabelle hopes to pass unnoticed among the other villagers, always covering her hair in public. Her husband, Etienne Tournier, a distant and controlling man, has never trusted his beautiful young wife, fathering two sons and a daughter with her, but rigid in the ruling of his family. When Isabelle's daughter, Marie, grows fiery red strands of hair among the brown, her mother is terrified and with good reason. The innocent Marie meets her fate in a cruel world, beginning a mystery that haunts the dreams of her distant relative, Ella, four centuries later. Ella's unremitting nightmares and the recurring shade of blue that accompanies the dreams, drive her to search for her distant ancestor and their common history. Although never as portentous as in Isabelle's day, Ella's life choices are daily more difficult; in pursuing the mystery of the past, Ella's life takes a direction she could never anticipate. Isabelle Tournier is a strong presence in Chevalier's hands, the treatment of the past historically compelling. A sincere and honest young woman, Isabelle suffers greatly for her simple faith at a time when women have few options, save the comfort of their families. Her stigma, the genetic accident of red hair, is unavoidable, but such is the superstition of the times that Isabelle is marked irrevocably. The 15th Century is tainted by religious intolerance, as the religion in ascendancy cleanses away the beliefs of another, leaving a wake of burning homes, villages and memories. This novel is an indication of the work to come, as Chevalier fashions compelling historical fiction, a genre she makes her own. Luan Gaines/2004.
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