The Blue is a historical thriller set in France and England in mid 18th century. Porcelain is a huge commodity, so much so that the obsession over porcelain brings to mind the Dutch obsession with tulips a century earlier. Britain and France are duking it out over the best colors.
Genevieve Planché, an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, wishes to become an artist. When she meets Sir Gabriel Courtenay, he offers to send her to Venice to study—if she steals the formula to the color blue being developed in a British porcelain factory. Genevieve learns the art of industrial espionage—but falls in love with the man from whom she’s to steal the formula. It was hard to put this book down as characters shifted allegiances, relationships changed, and the war between Britain and France affect the lives of the characters.
Bilyeau does a great job blending multiple storylines and ideas about art and science that were prevalent during the mid 18th century. Cobalt, to make blue pigments, was mined without the insights modern technology provides into the long-term effects: ecological, psychological, and physiological.
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The Blue (Lume Books, May 14, 2019) is available through:
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