Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Most Anticipated Books of 2025!

What readers think of Girl in Hyacinth Blue, plus links to write your own review.

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

by Susan Vreeland
  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 1999, 242 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2000, 256 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Reviews

Page 1 of 1
There are currently 3 reader reviews for Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

Power Reviewer
Cathryn Conroy

Imaginative and Impressive: A Historical Novel of Short Stories That Weaves a Tale of a Painting's Owners
Oh, how clever and creative! Written by Susan Vreeland, this is the story of a painting—ostensibly by the renowned Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer—and all the people who have owned it over the decades since it was painted sometime in the 1600s. Even though this is a novel, each chapter is more like a short story as we share in the tale of the painting's owners from the present day and extending back to the time when Vermeer painted his lovely daughter Magdalena, including why he chose this scene and what she was thinking about while her father painted.

The opening chapter is startling and disturbing. The owner of the painting, Corneilius Engelbrecht, is a high school math teacher, who has closed himself off to the rest of the world, all because of the painting. He knows it has come to him under the most horrifying of circumstances, and he lives in fear he will be found out and the beautiful painting snatched away. Each subsequent story reaches further back in time about the various owners, some of whom are desperately poor and others of whom are wealthy and deceitful. But they all have one thing in common: The painting has in some way affected or even transformed their lives.

This imaginative and impressive book is as much a story about humanity as it is about the provenance of a painting, albeit a fictional one, and the impact art has on our souls.

Bonus: The painting is just a figment of Susan Vreeland's imagination, but when Hallmark made a film of the novel, it commissioned artist Jonathan Janson to paint it as Vreeland describes it in great detail in the book. Google "Girl in Hyacinth Blue Jonathan Janson" to see the extraordinary result. The Kindle cover is a smaller, cropped version of Janson's painting, but it appears (at least on Amazon) that the hardcover and paperback versions do not have the painting on the cover.
Velma

A Real Winner
I was mesmerized by this book which tells the history of a painting in reverse time order. The writing style is excellent. I flew through this book in one day and I am now a confirmed Vreeland fan.
Aaron

Alright
The book was extremely hard to follow. I found myself re-reading whole chapters. Overall not a bad book but I was not impressed.
  • Page
  • 1

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    The Bluest Eye
    by Toni Morrison
    The story of a black girl in America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others. First published 1970; won the 1993 Nobel Prize.
  • Book Jacket
    The Frozen River
    by Ariel Lawhon
    From the bestselling author of I Was Anastasia comes a historical mystery inspired by 18th-century midwife Martha Ballard, who investigates a shocking murder.
  • Book Jacket
    The Wager
    by David Grann
    From the bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a gripping story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.
Who Said...

In war there are no unwounded soldiers

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Harlem Rhapsody
    by Victoria Christopher Murray

    The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance.

  • Book Jacket

    Three Days in June
    by Anne Tyler

    A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

  • Book Jacket

    Beast of the North Woods
    by Annelise Ryan

    When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature.

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

T the L

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.