Clara and Mr. Tiffany

Clara and Mr. Tiffany
Susan Vreeland 2011
Random House Publishing


Summary:

Against the unforgettable backdrop of New York near the turn of the twentieth century, from the Gilded Age world of formal balls and opera to the immigrant poverty of the Lower East Side, bestselling author Susan Vreeland again breathes life into a work of art in this extraordinary novel, which brings a woman once lost in the shadows into vivid color.

It’s 1893, and at the Chicago World’s Fair, Louis Comfort Tiffany makes his debut with a luminous exhibition of innovative stained-glass windows, which he hopes will honor his family business and earn him a place on the international artistic stage. But behind the scenes in his New York studio is the freethinking Clara Driscoll, head of his women’s division. Publicly unrecognized by Tiffany, Clara conceives of and designs nearly all of the iconic leaded-glass lamps for which he is long remembered.

Clara struggles with her desire for artistic recognition and the seemingly insurmountable challenges that she faces as a professional woman, which ultimately force her to protest against the company she has worked so hard to cultivate. She also yearns for love and companionship, and is devoted in different ways to five men, including Tiffany, who enforces to a strict policy: he does not hire married women, and any who do marry while under his employ must resign immediately. Eventually, like many women, Clara must decide what makes her happiest—the professional world of her hands or the personal world of her heart

Personal Review:
It was a really good book. I love historical fiction. The story a was nice little love story. It's about Clara, a woman who's husband is dead and is in charge of lamps. And we have Tiffany. The mastermind behind all this. He is a shy sensitive man. But he enforces a no married women policy. But they end up together in the end. I mean why wouldn't they? After all it's a love story it was inevitable. The book is about 500 pages but isn't a book as a whole but smaller "books" inside a large one. They all run together. So it's really just one book. The writing style was well paced and fun. You get a real insight into what life was for a Tiffany employee then. A wonderful frolic through time.

Grade: ++++
Book to read this week: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

(Sorry about not posting Tuesday but it's hard to if your internet's down.)
-Maggie