Girl with a Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevalier 233 p.

Girl with a Pearl Earring / Tracy Chevalier 233 p.

Tracy Chevalier wonderfully takes the reader into the 17th century world of Delft.  Girl with a pearl earring tells the story of Greit, a 16 year old, who takes a job as a maid in the home of painter Johannes Vermeer after her father is blinded in a tile factor accident.  She is perceptive about her world.  Through her narrative, the daily grind of laundry, meal preparation, food gathering, and, child care is so richly and gently detailed that one sees Greit's raw, red, chapped hands.  Chevalier tells how a maid became the subject of one of Vermeer's greatest portraits.  

Anne Frank remembered / Miep Gies with Alison Leslie Gold 264 p.

Thanks to Alison Leslie Gold who convinced Miep Gies to remember her days outside of the secret annex in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family and friends hid. Miep recounts those harsh, horrid, horrific days with simplicity, honesty and such clarity the one is there as she spends hours supporting the Franks.  This is a great book for those who wish to know more about Anne from one who was her protector as well as her special friend.