Looking for something quick to read, I picked up this book which my wife had bought and read some time ago. In all honesty I didn't think I was going to like it; perhaps find it an amusing read but that's about it. I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, finishing it in only 2 days. The way the novel goes back and forth in time is refreshing; Chevalier is not wordy nor cumbersome, and makes the transitions easy to follow, and intuitive within the framework of the narration. Her writing voice is clear and engaging, bringing you along for the ride with little effort. The conclusion shocked me, even though I was already expecting it, a testament to her good storytelling skills. Amazingly, I was actually left waiting to know more about the lives of the two protagonists, Isabel and Ella, what happens after the book ends. Few books leave me like that, so engaged in the lives of the characters that I would like to keep tabs on their post-novel lives. Chevalier solidly cemented a place in my mental library of authors to keep an eye out all the time, and I can't wait to read Girl With a Pearl Earring.

I thought it was okay. I liked the reoccuring themes in the book. I just couldn't get into the main character.

My 2010 bookcrossing review:

I enjoyed this one. Not quite as good as Girl with a Pearl Earring, but I thought it was better than Burning Bright. Was this her first book? One of the comments on the back cover makes me think it was.

This was back to addictive Chevalier reading and it didn't take me that long to get through the book as I had to know what happened. This story is set in two time periods - modern and 1700s in France and Switzerland. The connection being two red headed women who are related. The red head of the past was Isobelle, who married into a family, Tournier, who did not appear to have any respect for her and enjoyed tormenting her. The woman of today is Ella Turner from America (the family changed the name to Turner when they moved to the States) who has just moved to France with her husband who has taken a French architectural project. She is stuck in a country where she doesn't know anyone, doesn't have a job (she is a midwife but will have to retrain to be allowed to work in France) and is struggling with the language. The locals aren't overly welcoming and she feels isolated. I've never been to France, but I have lived abroad so I could relate to her experiences there. And also when you're struggling with the language to begin with and trying to speak it, yet people will reply in English no matter how much you continue in the native language - also very annoying. To deal with the boredom, she decides to research her family tree, which eventually leads her to Isobelle.

I enjoyed the historical story in this more than the modern one, but overall it was a still a good book. It was very touching, even with the two stories through time.

The Virgin Blue contrasts the life of a young woman who has moved to France with her architect husband with a distant relative who lived four centuries earlier, a young woman forced to a difficult and ignoble life as French Huguenot. I liked it quite a lot, and intend to read more by this author.

Chevalier's writing is amateurish, plodding, awkward; I'm amazed this book got published.

I thought this was a terrible book. I gave it 2.5 stars because it was well written and the historical details were interesting. I found the characters unlikeable and their actions frustrating. The combination of religious mysticism with immoral lifestyles (portrayed as somehow being the better course than morality) really bothered me.