Tracy Chevalier (born October 1962 in Washington, DC) is a bestselling historical novelist. She is of Romande Swiss descent (with possible French Huguenot ancestry) on her father's side, and lives in London with her husband and son. Chevalier was raised in Washington, D.Cand graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Bethesda, Maryland. After receiving her B.A. in English from Oberlin College, she moved to England in 1984 where she worked several years as a reference book editor. Leaving her job in 1993, she began a year long M.A. program in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Her tutors on the course were novelists Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. Her most recent book, published in March 2007, is Burning Bright and concerns two children who become neighbours of William Blake in London in 1792. Her career began with the book The Virgin Blue but she became well known with her novel Girl with a Pearl Earring, a book based on the creation of the famous painting by Vermeer. The film based on the novel received three Academy Award nominations in 2004.
Published works
- The Virgin Blue (London: Plume, 1997) ISBN 0-452-28444-9
- Girl with a Pearl Earring (New York: Dutton, 1999) ISBN 0-525-94527-X
- Falling Angels (New York: Dutton, 2001) ISBN 0-525-94581-4
- The Lady and the Unicorn (New York: Dutton Adult, 2003) ISBN 0-525-94767-1
- Burning Bright (HarperCollins, March 2007) ISBN 0007178352
External links
- Official Website
- Tracy Chevalier at www.contemporarywriters.com
- Tracy Chevalier talks about The Lady and the Unicorn on MeetTheAuthor.co.uk
- British Library Podcast Tracy Chevalier reads from her novel Burning Bright and discusses William Blake's Notebook with Blake scholar Michael Phillips.
