Vermeer's Daughter

In this richly imagined novel based on the life of seventeenth-century painter, Johannes Vermeer, Barbara Shoup evokes the artist's world through the eyes of his favorite daughter. Willful, dreamy, not-beautiful Carelina Vermeer is a trial to her wealthy Grandmother Thins, whose efforts to make her into a proper young lady are a constant source of tension in a large, loving, but quarrelsome family. Then, early one morning, she follows her sister to a house on the harbor where he is preparing to paint his masterpiece, "View of Delft," and her real life begins.

In this richly imagined novel based on the life of seventeenth-century painter, Johannes Vermeer, Barbara Shoup evokes the artist's world through the eyes of his favorite daughter. Willful, dreamy, not-beautiful Carelina Vermeer is a trial to her wealthy Grandmother Thins, whose efforts to make her into a proper young lady are a constant source of tension in a large, loving, but quarrelsome family. Then, early one morning, she follows her sister to a house on the harbor where he is preparing to paint his masterpiece, "View of Delft," and her real life begins.

Barbara Shoup is the author seven novels, including Night Watch, Wish You Were Here, Stranded in Harmony, Faithful Women, Vermeer’s Daughter, Everything You Want, and An American Tune, and the co-author of Novel Ideas: Contemporary Authors Share the Creative Process and Story Matters. Her young adult novels, Wish You Were Here and Stranded in Harmony were selected as American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Vermeer’s Daughter was a School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults. She was the recipient of the 2006 PEN Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. A YA novel, Looking for Jack Kerouac, is forthcoming from Lacewing Press in 2014. She is the Executive Director of Indiana Writers Center. Visit her at www.barbarashoup.com