The stunning new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. When modest Quaker Honor Bright sails from Bristol with her sister, she is fleeing heartache for a new life in America, far from home. But tragedy leaves her alone and vulnerable, torn between two worlds and dependent on the kindness of strangers. Life in 1850s Ohio is precarious and unsentimental. The sun is too hot, the thunderstorms too violent, the snow too deep. The roads are spattered with mud and spit. The woods are home to skunks and porcupines and raccoons. They also shelter slaves escaping north to freedom. Should Honor hide runaways from the ruthless men who hunt them down? The Quaker community she has joined may oppose slavery in principle, but does it have the courage to help her defy the law? As she struggles to find her place and her voice, Honor must decide what she is willing to risk for her beliefs. Set in the tangled forests and sunlit cornfields of Ohio, Tracy Chevalier's vivid novel is the story of bad men and spirited women, surprising marriages and unlikely friendships, and the remarkable power of defiance.

1962年出生于美国华盛顿，1984年迁居英格兰。1994年获得英国东安哥拉大学创意写作硕士学位。她的 第一本小说《纯蓝》（Virgin Blue），荣获一九九七年史密斯年度新人奖。除了《戴珍珠耳环的女孩》之外，另着有《堕落天使》（Falling Angels），皆以过去时代女人试图突破环境限制、改变自身命运为描写主题。崔西与丈夫及儿子居住于伦敦。她希望能看遍维梅尔一生中所完成的三十五幅画作的真迹（如今她已看过二十八幅）。《戴珍珠耳环的女孩》以过去时代女人试图突破环境限制、改变自身命运为描写主题，加上作者对维梅尔的透彻研究，使得该书在美国图书排行榜上高居不下。