14th - 22nd September Venice Glass Week

This international festival is dedicated to glass art and we can enjoy this event without a trip to Murano in Venice. We can do it vicariously through these wonderful books.

Superb picture books:

• The Glass Horse of Venice  by Arnold Zable and Anita Lester

Claudia lives in the beautiful city of Venice. As she rushes from her apartment out into the campo and into an alley, she stops at the glassblower’s workshop. In the window are the wondrous glass figurines she admires daily. So many different animals. Elephant’s owls, giraffes, but also horses. Even winged horses.

The glassblower invites her in and asks if she has heard of Pegasus, the winged horse who lives in the stars. From beneath the counter, he brings out a little glass horse with broken wings. He gifts it to her, saying that one day she will discover its secret. 

• A Thousand Glass Flowers  by Evan Turk

Marietta and her family lived on the island of Murano, near Venice, as all glassmakers did in the early Renaissance. Her father, Angelo Barovier, was a true maestro, a master of glass. Marietta longed to create gorgeous glass too, but glass was men’s work.

One day her father showed her how to shape the scalding-hot material into a work of art, and Marietta was mesmerized. Her skills grew and grew.

Marietta worked until she created her own unique glass bead: the rosetta. Small but precious, the beautiful beads grew popular around the world and became as valuable as gold.

• The Glassmaker's Daughter by Dianne Hofmeyr and Jane Ray

In Venice a wealthy, successful glassmaker is worried about his daughter Daniela who is always sad. He offers a glass palace to anyone who can make his daughter smile. Many attempt to entertain her but they all fail. Then Angelo a young glassmaker decides to try, creating a special gift, a looking glass. When Daniela looks into it she sees a very funny, grumpy face looking back. Amused by her own reflection Daniela begins to smile and laugh.  Her happiness is so infectious soon the whole city is laughing and dancing too.

• The Glass Heart by Sally Gardner

Three Venetian sisters  each have a glass heart. After the eldest dies of a broken heart and the second princess is bed-ridden with a crack in hers, the King is determined to ensure that his youngest daughter’s heart remains whole and unharmed. Therefore it is decided that she will only marry a prince who is good with glass. But the princess is already in love, with the kind and reliable courtier who looks after her. When he saves the princess’ life and is given his freedom by the King, he decides to go to a neighbouring island and learn the craft of glassblowing. But learning such a craft takes time, will the princess have waited for him when he gets back?

The tradition of glass-blowing and the islands Murano and Venice take centre stage in this gorgeous fairy tale.

This novel for 9+ readers:

• The Girl of Glass by Holly Webb

Mariana lives with her family on the Venetian island of Murano - famed for its artists who create masterpieces from glass. But when Mariana's little sister, Eliza, dies their father decides to use his glassmaking skill - and a dash of magic - to create a girl of glass in Eliza's image.

And novels for you:

• The Glass Maker  by Tracy Chevalier

“This charming fable is at once a love story that skips through six centuries, and also a love song to the timeless craft of glassmaking. Chevalier probes the fierce rivalries and enduring loyalties of Murano’s glass dynasties, capturing the roar of the furnace, the sweat on the skin, and the glittering beauty of Venetian glass.” – Geraldine Brooks

• The Glassblower of Murano   by Marina Fiorata

The novel follows Nora Manin as she undertakes a journey very similar to my own, visiting Murano and entering a glass workshop. Nora is not just a tourist, though – she is planning to start a new life in Venice and is hoping to get a job blowing glass. As the descendant of one of the most famous glassblowers in Venetian history, Corradino Manin, and a talented glass artist in her own right, Nora easily convinces the factory owner to employ her. However, as Nora begins to settle into her new job she learns something about her ancestor that she would rather not have known.