Fast-paced action, passionate emotions, international intrigue and life or death stakes propel the reader through this outstanding historical thriller set in 18th century London, Derby and France.
Bilyeau depicts the world of 1758 with gorgeous detail. She immerses the reader, whether in the rough streets of London’s Spitalfields district where the refugee Huguenot silk-weavers ply their trade or in the newly opened British Museum where the aristocrats are as much on display as this “collection of . . . drawings and maps . . . and mummified creatures from around the world.” Bilyeau layers on sensory experiences to draw her reader in: “A fire crackles in the tall fireplace. Yet a damp-cloud smell of human sweat hovers over this crowd, mingling with the musk oil many men use to conceal their odor—unsuccessfully—and the tobacco smoke and the holly branches heaped around the pink punchbowl, in sole deference to Christmas a fortnight away.” This deep historical immersion arises organically from the characters and needs of the action, thus never slowing the riveting plot.
The plot revolves around dreams and obsessions—as is often the case with the most dramatic conflicts in human life.
The main character, Genevieve Planché, dreams of being a serious artist. She has talent and some experience, but as an 18th century woman, every door to the necessary training is closed to her. She doesn’t let that stop her, but perhaps she should have. She certainly does not realize how dangerous the path to that dream will become. At a certain point, a life spent painting flowers on silk and porcelain begins to look less to her like a prison sentence.
And then there are various obsessions with the color blue—which might not sound like plot-driving material to you, but you’d be wrong.
The primary obsession is with achieving a new shade of blue on porcelain, a blue “so delicate and so bold, icily perfect and excitingly sensual at the same time.” Some pursue this new shade for financial gain and dominance in the porcelain market. Some are driven by the beauty of the color itself. Others are drawn by the science involved in making the color. They desire the pre-eminence of reputation in the academies of science such an accomplishment will bring. Some see the new color as their salvation out of intolerable lives. For all of these characters, the drive toward the new color is so desperate that it turns deadly.
Bilyeau has created a potent brew of artistic, scientific and financial dreams colliding with industrial sabotage, the Seven Years War between England and France, and the fortunes of those perched precariously at the highest echelons of life in both countries.
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