When she has a chance to seize her dreams, she does so. That is until fallout from the beginning of rebellion against the pitiful wages paid to silk weavers ends her employment there. But women are not thought capable of doing serious art so instead of apprenticing herself to a master and learning about oil painting and composition, she is relegated to painting watercolor designs for the beautiful fabrics created by Anna Maria Garthwaite. Though her family live in Spitalsfields as did the characters in “The Hidden Thread,” Genevieve’s grandfather broke with tradition and became a painter – something Genevieve longs to do as well. His determination to have all French Protestants converted to Catholicism or else drove talented artists to seek refuge in England.

Genevieve Planche is a granddaughter of Huguenots who fled from France after King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes. Plus most of the characters are middle or working class! This book is both of those and more: fine porcelain religious freedom growing industrial might and the fate of Kings, countries, and chemists. When it promises to let me into a world I’ve not explored before, I’m delighted. Tell me a book is set during the mid 18th century and I’m already halfway to reading it.

With the heart and spirit of her Huguenot ancestors, Genevieve faces her challenges head on, but how much is she willing to suffer in pursuit and protection of the colour blue? The ensuing events take Genevieve deep into England’s emerging industrial heartlands, where not only does she learn about porcelain, but also about the art of industrial espionage. But in particular, she must learn the secrets of the colour blue… When Genevieve meets the charming Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers her an opportunity she can’t refuse if she learns the secrets of porcelein, he will send her to Venice. Kings do battle with knights and knaves for possession of the finest pieces and the secrets of their manufacture.įor Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, porcelain holds far less allure she wants to be an artist, a painter of international repute, but nobody takes the idea of a female artist seriously in London.

In eighteenth century London, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities fortunes are made and lost upon it. In eighteenth century England, porcelain is the most seductive of commodities.

The blue by nancy bilyeau