Many thanks to everyone who entered the draw for a copy of Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring; the winner is Michi, and the book will be on its way to her shortly.
Incidentally, for anyone who'd like to know more about Tracy's research for the book and about Vermeer's work and modus operandi, do listen to this conversation between Tracy and Melissa Buron, assistant curator of European art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco where the painting itself is currently on show.
Now to a girl of a rather different stripe: Flavia de Luce is back!
It's a highlight of the reading year when Alan Bradley brings out a new book in his series about the eleven-year-old sleuth, and the latest one, Speaking from Among the Bones, is great fun. I'm nearing the climax as the tomb of St. Tancred, patron saint of Bishop's Lacey is about to be opened and the remains exhumed. Meanwhile, the church organist has been murdered, and Flavia's family is in danger of losing Buckshaw, their ancestral home. Must read on!
