I got a late start on my Virtuous Reading this week, so I crossed my fingers when I picked this book off the shelf that it would be a fast read. I was rewarded beyond my expectations by this wonderful novel. I had a hard time putting it down; the "sucked in" gravity was strong in this one. It probably helped that I'm a historian who's lived and travelled in France, where the story is set.

Really, there's more than one story, in an A.S. Byatt kind of way. Modern woman comes to France, learns about woman ancestor, parallel experiences, blah blah. Except way more engaging than almost any other book of that sort that I've read. Hard to say exactly what's so appealing about this particular story--I personally hate the whole Huguenot time period/story line (Protestants bore me). But this time, it really worked for me.

Here's the highest compliment I can give: I want to break up my reading routine and read everything else Tracy Chevalier has written.