Louise Winther
asked
Tracy Chevalier:
What gave you the idea to write the story The Virgin Blue? I've just finished reading it, could hardly let go of it before I was done!
Tracy Chevalier
Years ago I was working as an editor, doing research in the British Library one day, and my mind wandered onto two things: I was going to a Swiss family reunion in a few months, and my sister was moving to France. My father was born in Switzerland, you see (he emigrated to the US as a boy), and my ancestors were Swiss, and the family story is that the Chevaliers were originally Huguenots (early Protestants) from the Cevennes in France who fled to Switzerland following religious persecution in 1572. I thought how funny it was that my sister was moving from the US "back" to France, closing the circle, so to speak.
That got me thinking about the migration of families, where they move, why, and what family baggage they take with them. Do family problems - emotional, spiritual, what-have-you - get passed down like echoes through the centuries? That was what was behind the making of The Virgin Blue. I wanted to write a story about the times and places and issues the Chevaliers would have faced. Of course I made up the story - I'm thankful to report none of what happened to the Tourniers happened to the Chevaliers, as far as I know!
That got me thinking about the migration of families, where they move, why, and what family baggage they take with them. Do family problems - emotional, spiritual, what-have-you - get passed down like echoes through the centuries? That was what was behind the making of The Virgin Blue. I wanted to write a story about the times and places and issues the Chevaliers would have faced. Of course I made up the story - I'm thankful to report none of what happened to the Tourniers happened to the Chevaliers, as far as I know!
More Answered Questions
Linda
asked
Tracy Chevalier:
My favourite book of yours is probably At the End of the Orchard. I found it fascinating, not least because I live in a house with an old orchard on the Isle of Wight in the UK. I wonder if there was any chance of you revisiting any of the characters? I felt the door was left open for that, do you think you ever might?
Connie
asked
Tracy Chevalier:
This is more comment than question: I just started reading New Boy (Advance Reader's Edition). I'm very intrigued by the revisioning of Shakespeare, and anticipate I'll have an eye-peeled for femininist, new historicist, and maybe some deconstructionist elements. Am I anticipating too much?
Sherril
asked
Tracy Chevalier:
Big fan here. I’ve read all of your books and I look forward to The Glass Maker. Would you consider delving into the world of a little known Jewish Scientist named Rosalind Elsie Franklin (1920-1958)? She was an influential British physical chemist and X-Ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA. In the end she was overshadowed by men who got the Nobel Prize.
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