Review: Clara and Mr. Tiffany
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Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland
Advanced Read Copy: Release date: March 20, 2012
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Good readable history is hard to write. When based on the scraps of information we have for the subject here, it becomes both easier and more difficult, as what-ifs and might-have-beens take flight. Vreeland keeps her feet on the ground, not indulging in a flaw ive seen in novels of this type, where the author manufactures meetings with other famed names of the period.
Make no mistake it IS a novel. We simply dont know much about Clara Driscoll. She was director of the Tiffany Studios’ Women’s Glass Cutting Department, and with some of her correspondence have been unearthed in 2007 we know it was she who designed many of the famous brand’s iconic lamps.
In this novel, Vreeland takes what she knows of the period and weaves that scant half-cup of information into a quite plausible tale. Her dialog is realistic, her plots graceful, her settings realistic enough to ground the characters while remaining hazy in the details. She also avoids either demon- or lionising Tiffany himself, portraying him realistically as a man with emotional issues continually tangling up with his ambition.
Overall i’d recommend this one to anyone who enjoys historical fiction in general, and those who are fond of this period will adore it. It definitely compares favorably to Phillippa Gregory’s work on the Tudor period (although with much less sexytime.. this IS the Victorian age), and fans of those novels will enjoy this one.
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