The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier

From Goodreads: Never before published in the United States, this first novel is released by the critically acclaimed author of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "Falling Angels." Readers meet Ella Turner and Isabelle du Moulin--two women born centuries apart, yet bound by a fateful family legacy.

This story would have been wonderful except for one big struggle for me. The idea of the story was great, the characters in both the present day story and the historical part were interesting, I loved all of that. What spoiled it for me, was the style of writing the author used for the 400 years ago story. She didn't use quotation marks and a traditional format of he said/she said. She just used a dash and then the dialogue followed without attributing it to the speaker so you had to puzzle it out. I'm sure it flowed beautifully in the author's head because she had the advantage of always knowing who was talking but it was awkward for me, awkward enough to put this at the bottom of my Tracy Chevalier list. Remarkable Creatures is in first place, Burning Bright, and The Girl With the Pearl Earring are tied for second place and this one is last!
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