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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2018, 336 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2019, 336 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Donna Chavez
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The New York Times bestselling author of The Library of Light and Shadow crafts a dazzling Jazz Age jewel—a novel of ambition, betrayal, and passion about a young painter whose traumatic past threatens to derail her career at a prestigious summer artists' colony run by Louis Comfort Tiffany of Tiffany & Co. fame. "[M.J. Rose] transports the reader into the past better than a time machine could accomplish" (The Associated Press).
New York, 1924. Twenty-four-year-old Jenny Bell is one of a dozen burgeoning artists invited to Louis Comfort Tiffany's prestigious artists' colony. Gifted and determined, Jenny vows to avoid distractions and romantic entanglements and take full advantage of the many wonders to be found at Laurelton Hall.
But Jenny's past has followed her to Long Island. Images of her beloved mother, her hard-hearted stepfather, waterfalls, and murder, and the dank hallways of Canada's notorious Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women overwhelm Jenny's thoughts, even as she is inextricably drawn to Oliver, Tiffany's charismatic grandson.
As the summer shimmers on, and the competition between the artists grows fierce as they vie for a spot at Tiffany's New York gallery, a series of suspicious and disturbing occurrences suggest someone knows enough about Jenny's childhood trauma to expose her.
Supported by her closest friend Minx Deering, a seemingly carefree socialite yet dedicated sculptor, and Oliver, Jenny pushes her demons aside. Between stolen kisses and stolen jewels, the champagne flows and the jazz plays on until one moonless night when Jenny's past and present are thrown together in a desperate moment, that will threaten her promising future, her love, her friendships, and her very life.
Excerpt
Tiffany Blues
March 20, 1924
New York, New York
I hadn't expected to find a waterfall in the middle of Central Park. Even there, so far away from home and the scene of the tragedy, the rushing water that pounded on the rocks made me shudder. The waterfalls in Ithaca and in Hamilton had been powerful, beautiful forces of nature, but I'd grown to hate them.
"Jenny, certainly this early-spring scenery is going to inspire you to use some color," Minx said, as we set up our easels.
A dozen of us from Professor Robert Pannell's class at the Art Students League of New York had scattered around the pond, preparing to spend the afternoon painting en plein air in the tradition of the impressionists. We'd walked from the school on West Fifty-seventh Street north into the park and then continued along manicured pathways into this untamed, romantic area.
"Your assignment is not to paint what you see but what you feel. Paint the atmosphere," Professor Pannell ...
M.J. Rose brings Jenny's past to the surface through the young woman's luscious first-person narrative. Indeed, Jenny's voice is so rich with color, possessing so many sumptuous notes, it's like standing under a cool waterfall on a hot day with the sun's light refracting one rainbow after another. But I digress... I often read books that make want to be a better writer. I can't recall if I've ever read a book that made me want to reach for my sketch pad and charcoal. Tiffany Blue did both. But first I'm going to read it again...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Donna Chavez).
Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train and A Piece of the World
A fascinating novel about a young, struggling artist mentored by the celebrated jeweler and stained-glass creator Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany Blues brings together an enchanting glimpse of Jazz Age New York and an inspired fictional story about Jenny Bell and the terrible secret she's hiding. Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale
A lush, romantic historical mystery with a unique setting. Tiffany Blues explores an interesting lost bit of American history and gives us a heroine to root for.Much of the action in M. J. Rose's novel Tiffany Blues takes place at Louis Comfort Tiffany's fabulous estate near Oyster Bay, New York. It's an 84-room mansion, standing on over 60 acres of lush landscaping, all conceived and designed by Louis himself. Since the late 1800s he had been the chief creative force behind the famous jewelers' fabulous collections of jewels, china, silver and, most particularly, glass. He was a gifted painter, architect and landscape artist as well.
Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B. Young founded a store in 1837. Four years later they were joined by J. L. Ellis and became Tiffany, Young and Ellis. They sold stationery and fancy goods to the fashionable ladies who frequented their location ...
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