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Burning Bright
 
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Burning Bright (Paperback)

by Tracy Chevalier (Author)
2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
Price: £5.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Burning Bright + Falling Angels + Remarkable Creatures
Price For All Three: £20.91

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Product details

  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Harper (4 Feb 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007178360
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007178360
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 40,930 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #5 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > C > Chevalier, Tracy

Product Description

Review

Praise for 'Burning Bright': 'A visual delight. Chevalier's meticulous brushstrokes allow us to hear the "youthful harlot's curse" and feel "the damp souls of housemaids"' The Times 'Burning Bright is an ambitious, impressively-researched novel!You can almost smell the smoke and mildewed clothes, see the gaunt, pock-marked faces of people struggling to survive and sense Jem's wonder as he gazes across the murky Thames to a perplexing world' Daily Express 'A subtle clarity of style, quirky but seldom over-drawn characters, engaging touches of domestic detail and a splendidly vital recreation of Georgian London' Sunday Times 'Vivid, romantic and pacey' Daily Mail 'Those who admired Chevalier's atmospheric evocation of 17th-century Delft will find much to enjoy in her vivid reconstruction of late 18th-century London' Guardian More praise for 'Burning Bright': 'Marvellously plotted!Chevalier masterfully works the themes and images of Blake's poetry into a tale of pure souls "burning bright" in a tarnished, slippery world' Susan Vreeland, Waterstone's Books Quarterly 'Her pen-sketches of the squalor, smells and sounds of low-life London flesh out the history into immediacy' Financial Times 'Entertaining and involving' Literary Review 'Chevalier's characteristic love of detail - from the smells of the cattle market to a grotesque description of a man eating a pie - brings Georgian London vividly to life, while meticulous research allows her to weave fact and fiction into a convincing and persuasive narrative' Irish Times 'Great pleasure is derived from Chevalier's vivid sense of place. In her hands, late 18th-century London and Lambeth in particular spring to life, and you see a city teetering on the brink of the rapid expansion and industrialisation that is about to change it forever' Historical Novels Review


Product Description

The new top ten bestselling novel from the much loved author of Girl with a Pearl Earring Flames and funerals, circus feats and seduction, neighbours and nakedness: Tracy Chevalier's new novel 'Burning Bright' sparkles with drama. London 1792. The Kellaways move from familiar rural Dorset to the tumult of a cramped, unforgiving city. They are leaving behind a terrible loss, a blow that only a completely new life may soften. Against the backdrop of a city jittery over the increasingly bloody French Revolution, a surprising bond forms between Jem, the youngest Kellaway boy, and streetwise Londoner Maggie Butterfield. Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour, the printer, poet and radical, William Blake. He is a guiding spirit as Jem and Maggie navigate the unpredictable, exhilarating passage from innocence to experience. Their journey inspires one of Blake's most entrancing works. Georgian London is recreated as vividly in Burning Bright as 17th-century Delft was in Tracy Chevalier's bestselling masterpiece, Girl with a Pearl Earring.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Burning Bright
65% buy the item featured on this page:
Burning Bright 2.2 out of 5 stars (45)
£5.97
Remarkable Creatures
17% buy
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Falling Angels
11% buy
Falling Angels 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
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The Virgin Blue
4% buy
The Virgin Blue 4.2 out of 5 stars (24)
£7.19

 

Customer Reviews

45 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (16)
1 star:
 (15)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.2 out of 5 stars (45 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting historically, but not the most gripping story., 17 Aug 2007
By Helen Simpson (Leeds, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Burning Bright (Hardcover)
An interesting and detailed picture of London in the late eighteenth century. The people and the industries of the time, along with the feeling of unrest as King George worries that his citizens will revolt like the French.

It took me a little while to get into the story, possibly because I wasn't particularly interested in the circus or the Astleys who owned it. I found it a little poor but it did improve and as the story developed I did grow to like Jem and Maggie, the main characters.

I would disagree with the synopsis that states, "Their friendship takes a dramatic turn when they become entangled in the life of their neighbour...William Blake." They hardly become entangled. He's a printer, a radical and poet who just happens to be a neighbour and features briefly from time to time to give them a little food for thought.

Pleasant, but not gripping.


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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Book, 18 Jun 2007
This review is from: Burning Bright (Hardcover)
This was a good read, a good tale, but nothing exciting. It told you little bits about William Blake, but I do not feel like a Blake connoisseur having read this! The book tells of a family moving from Dorsetshire to London in 1792, which would probably ring true with anyone making a similar move today. The family live next door to William Blake, and occasionally their paths cross. I loved 'Girl with a Pearl Earring,' it made me seek out Vermeer's work, and look with renewed vigour at Dutch painting. This book simply does not enthuse you with any similar passion.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, not her best., 23 Mar 2008
I have been a huge fan of Chevalier for a number of years now and absolutely love "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Falling Angels". (I'd recommend them in an instant!) When I heard that she was writing a new book (after about four years of no new publications) I couldn't wait to get hold of it, let alone read it.

To summise, the novel revolves arounds the Kellaway family, who move from rural Dorset to late 18th-century London, where they happen to become neighbours with William Blake. The son, Jem Kellaway starts work at a circus and makes friends with Maggie Butterfield. It is very much a tale of their friendship and their relationship with the Blakes.

On the surface, there isn't anything wrong with plot and it's not badly written. However, for me, it was missing something; I think it lacked passion - in her others novels, I have always felt that she enjoyed writing the books and developing the characters/plotlines. In this one, it didn't feel like Chevalier. In addition, one of the reasons why I like Chevalier is that her work doesn't come across as predictable, but in 'Burning Bright' there were one or two subplots (a pregnancy, for example) that were completely unnecessary. When that pregnancy occurred, I was almost screaming 'No!' because I just hoped it wasn't going to be that predictable. If anything, these episodes felt very contrived in order to take the reader from one phase to the next.

I am going to make a large presumption here but it crossed my mind that Chevalier had written the book simply because she hadn't had anything published in a while; almost as if to bring her back on the scene.

Would I recommend it? To be honest, I'd hesitate. If you like Chevalier, then at least read it, but have no expectations. If you have never read Chevalier before, DON'T start with this one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Burning Dull
I expected more of Burning Bright, having been told that Chevalier wrote Girl With a Pearl Earring, which I've yet to read, but I have been told is good. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Mr. SD Halliday

1.0 out of 5 stars dull, dull, dull
i'm afraid i couldn't stomach much more than a couple of chapters. as an adult reader i seriously wondered if i'd accidentally picked up a childrens' book as this was what the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by kit hurst

2.0 out of 5 stars Not upto past standards
After waiting for this book to come out, I was really disappointed. Although Chevalier used the same amount of detail as used in her previous titles, this one was not... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Flower Potty

2.0 out of 5 stars A light read but may be a disappointment to some
I have not read Girl with a Pearl Earring but heard great reports about it from fellow book group members. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Literary Chick

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely children's story- published for the wrong market.
I really enjoyed this book and read it as one of the many children's stories I read. I didn't realise it has been written for an adult market! Read more
Published 5 months ago by A. Biscoe

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing like 'Girl with the Pearl Earring'...
Having read Chevallier's 'Girl With The Pearl Earring' I was looking forward to reading this book. I was disappointed, however, for a number of reasons. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Book Maven

1.0 out of 5 stars After Girl With the Pearl Earring
What a disappointment after her first brilliant and gripping book! The title gave the expectation that it was as much about Wm Blake as the first book was about Vermeer. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Lynn Phillips

1.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't give it a chance...
I have never read a Tracy Chevalier book before and so I had no preconceptions of what this book would be like. Read more
Published 7 months ago by shona lewis

2.0 out of 5 stars A strangely unsatisfying read
I enjoyed 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' and 'The Lady & the Unicorn' so was looking forward to this book. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Sarah Allen

3.0 out of 5 stars Unlike seemingly everyone else, I enjoyed it
It appears I am in the minority, looking at the other reviews, but I actually really enjoyed Burning Bright. Read more
Published 7 months ago by C. L. Foster

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