Girl With A Pearl Earring/The Faithful Executioner (Reviews) in Back entries: 2013 - 2015

Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (248 pages) is a re-read for me, and was one of six books I bought for myself on my birthday a couple of weeks ago. (I’ve already read and reviewed two others in my last entry). Set in Delft in the 1600s, Griet has to go and work for the artist Johannes Vermeer and his family as a maid to help support her family after her father is blinded. What happens during her time with the Vermeer family changes her life....

The first time I read this, I wound up sitting in front of the computer googling some of Vermeer’s work whenever a description of one of his paintings came up (I’m not much of an art person). I was very tempted to do this again during my re-reading, but decided to just sit back and enjoy the book instead. I thought this was a brilliant book and worth the re-read.

The Faithful Executioner by Joel F. Harrington (283 pages, including notes, acknowledgements and index) is about Meister Frantz Schmidt, an executioner in sixteenth century Nuremburg. Harrington found Schmidt’s journal in a German bookshop, and was intrigued with it. Meister Schmidt worked for forty five odd years as an executioner, an occupation deemed “dishonourable” back then. It was interesting to read about what bought Schmidt into that occupation, and how he tried to get rid of the stigma surrounding his occupation for his children’s sakes. A bit morbid, and one of those books that I’m glad I read, but I’m not sure if I’ll read it again. I’ll leave it on my bookshelf for now, just in case I change my mind.

Last updated January 01, 2015