The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (2005, Paperback, Deluxe)

This is one of my favorite books. It contains excellent details of Vermeer's life and of the everyday life of his servants including the girl in this portrait. The making of his paints and how much effort it took to mix them were fascinating to me. I also love pearls, their history and their great beauty so I was immediately drawn to this portrait as well as the book. I'm an author myself and also do some public speaking. The stories I tell about wonderful jewels, including pearls, always are so appreciated. I always tell about this book as well and how wonderfully written it is. For an adventure in times past of a great painter, I would highly recommend this book.

I purchased this book for a book club discussion. The book arrived in excellent condition. I've noticed, when reading the book, that some of the pages have been dog-eared. This doesn't take away from the experience of enjoying the contents of the book. It was an inexpensive way to get good reading material.