Publisher's Weekly Review
Genevieve PlanchAc, the appealing 24-year-old narrator of this intriguing thriller from Bilyeau (The Crown), longs to be a painter at a time, 1759, when "female sensibilities" are considered "too delicate for art." Reluctantly, she accepts a job as a decorator at the Derby Porcelain Works, but before setting off from her London home, she's approached by dashing Sir Gabriel Courtenay, who asks her to spy on the new chemist at the factory, Thomas Sturbridge, who has "created an entirely new shade of blue." In exchange for this treachery, she's promised enough money to set herself up as a painter in Venice. After agreeing to this scheme, she comes to realize that the quest for the new blue can alter the destiny of a king and create works of awesome beauty but also lead to kidnapping, betrayal, and murder. Fascinating details include glimpses of the newly opened British Museum, a Christmas party at the home of William Hogarth, and Madame de Pompadour's residence at Versailles. Historical fans will be well satisfied. Agent: Nalini Akolekar, Spencerhill Assoc. (Dec.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Porcelain is all the rage in eighteenth-century Europe, and its manufacturers are engaged in cutthroat competition. Genevieve Planché, whose Huguenot family fled from France to England to escape persecution, chafes at the idea of being sent to work as a decorator at the Derby Porcelain Works. But the mysterious Sir Gabriel Courtenay offers her enough money to finance her dream of being a serious artist if she will act as a spy for him in Derby. He is particularly interested in the secrets behind "a blue the world has not seen before." Genevieve's mission entangles her in a web of theft, murder, and political intrigue and is complicated by her growing attraction to Thomas Sturbridge, the chemist who is working on the formula for the elusive blue. The plot has surprises right up to the end, and Bilyeau (The Chalice, 2013) has done her homework, so readers with a passion for historical and artistic detail will learn a lot about porcelain, the Huguenots, and the pigment blue.
