Book Review: 'Girl in Hyacinth Blue' By Susan Vreeland

This book is a series of related short stories.  Each stands on its own, but as a group, a larger story emerges.  The girl in the title is a painting.  The stories follow the painting as it changes hands over time, beginning in the present, and going back to its creation.  Each story reveal a little more of the painting’s provenance.  Each owner’s life is changed by the painting, and each owner has a bond with it. 

I liked this book.  The writing is crisp and restrained.  The characters each have a distinctive voice, and each story has a different emotional tone.  The connections between the stories are clear enough to unite them into a novel, but not so obvious as to appear as neon signs telling the reader what to think.  

If you are looking for a quick bit of fiction that is thought provoking but not heavy, pick up ‘Girl in Hyacinth Blue’ By Susan Vreeland.