I wrote the title to this post and then scurried off to check if ‘Madcap’ was an appropriate word to use… (For your ease, in case you doubt me: madcap definition via google)
Ah, YES. Hastily! Without deliberate thought! Here I go. (this will also excuse (maybe) my unwillingness to udnerline or italicize, etc.) I have 10 minutes to write this!!!!
Burning Bright is a novel by Tracy Chevalier, the same author who gave us Girl With a Pearl Earring. Which I loved. I LOVE historical fiction.
I picked Burning Bright for a number of reasons. I needed a large print version from the library for my ’silver’ book club. I was also thrilled that the library had a ‘regular’ version. Then, exciting me even more, was that another library I drive by, had it both in Large and Regular.
Unfortunately, the large print does NOT include the poems by William Blake.
Oops, madcappingly getting away from myself! Burning Bright is about a couple of kids, one from the city of London and one from the country, who come together in the immediate pre-French Revolution days of 1792 and who happen to befriend William Blake.
Billy Blake is a publisher, author, poet, eccentric (for the times, brilliant for history) and a neighbor to the kids. It’s not a highbrow read (compared to Atonement which I picked up immediately after) and it’s actually a delightful read. The kids become friends, share some adventures and experience the turmoil and political uneasiness that beset England once the French Revolution suggested that monarchs must be overthrown or… not.
After checking this book out, THEN I did some reviewing of reviews. Many suggested that it was important that the reader have knowledge of Blake’s poetry. I DISAGREE. Chevalier does a handy job at incorporating the poems and explaining bits and pieces while entertwining the story within the context of these poems.
A fine book, a good book - not a great book. It’s 300 pages in tradeback.
I’m off right now to do discuss with my new friends at the Home for the Aged… I hope they liked it! (I hope they read it.)
Leave me any questions that may come up and I will do a more thoughtful response soon. later.
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