Goethe wrote “if the yellow always brings a light, one can say that the blue always carry an element of darkness. This color exerts an influence on the eye unique and almost indescribable. As color is an energy but, belonging to the losing streak, it is the highest purity, as nothing exciting. There is, looking at it, something contradictory, between excitement and peace. ”
Blue is the color of my childhood.
At that time my mother was crazy about this color: pillows, curtains, lampshades, blankets, tablecloths and even clothes for her little girl who, against all habits, wore her favorite color. You don’t realize how certain things influence you as long as growing up you discover to look like your parents more than you ever think. That’s the reason why, attracted by the blue cover, I found in my hands the debut novel by Tracy Chevalier: The Virgin Blue.
XVI century, France: the Red – so called by all – Isabelle du Molin lives in a small town near the Cevennes; her hair recall those of the revered statue of the Virgin brought to the country by the Duke de l’Aigle, but with the arrival of Monsieur Marcel and his sermons against the Virgin, the entire village turns on the fanaticism of the Reformation. That nickname turns Isabelle into an evil creature from which to stay away. A little later Etienne Tournier comes into her life and she gets pregnant. So the Red goes to meet his fate…
XXI century, France: Ella Turner is a young American girl who moved to France to follow her husband Rick in his new job. The exciting expectation of a new life quickly gives way to the open hostility of the villagers of Lisle-sur-Tarn, a small town near Toulouse. This sense of inadequacy accompanies her even while she sleeps: every night a recurring nightmare in which she sees a blue mantle and hears a psalm, the same sung by the Huguenots in times of fear. In an effort to help turn the boredom and discomfort she enacts her father’s advice and takes advantage of her stay doing a research on her French origins. Here’s that the fate of the Turner is intertwined with that of Tournier…
“Have you ever tried to see things with my own eyes?”: this is the opportunity to discover the story of Isabelle-Ella.
Time of reading: one week
Photography: Sara Cartelli.
© The Eat Culture.
