What do readers think of Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland? Write your own review.

The author has achieved a good balance of fiction and history with lots of detail about the beautiful Tiffany lamps and windows and New York City and the people at the turn of the 20th century. This was a real joy to read and had me searching the internet to see the pieces described being created.

Colors. Lots of colors. Colors galore--from emerald green to peacock blue to daffodil yellow to ruby red. Author Susan Vreeland describes colors in this book, which is about Louis Comfort Tiffany, in a way that will make you almost see the colors pop off the page.

Tiffany gets credit for all the beautiful leaded-glass windows and lamps that carry his name, but the reality is that hundreds of men and a handful of women, better known as the "Tiffany Girls," were part of that early enterprise in the Gilded Age of the late 1800s/early 1900s. One of those women was Clara Driscoll, who likely conceived the idea of using leaded-glass in lamps and then designed some of the most famous lamps produced by Tiffany. And Mr. Tiffany took all the credit. Clara was never recognized for her incredible artistic achievements—until now.

This book draws on extensive research by art historians Martin Eidelberg and Nina Gray, who unearthed letters written by Clara while she was living in New York City to her family in Ohio. While this is a fictionalized account of Clara's life and work, there is much fact interspersed in the text—so much so that the book also serves as a litany on leaded-glass making. And that is where it loses its oomph. Even if it is never a page-turner, the story is at times quite fascinating, but too much of the book is downright boring. That's a shame, because this is an important story to tell.

I always love Ms. Vreeland's in depth novels about artists that I appreciate. Love that I am Appreciating the "history" beneath the art but. sometimes feel that they are a little slow to read. Have to admit, I have read every one of her books and will continue doing so.