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年齣生於美國華盛頓，1984年遷居英格蘭。1994年獲得英國東安哥拉大學創意寫作碩士學位。她的 第一本小說《純藍》（Virgin Blue），榮獲一九九七年史密斯年度新人奬。除瞭《戴珍珠耳環的女孩》之外，另著有《墮落天使》（Falling Angels），皆以過去時代女人試圖突破環境限製、改變自身命運為描寫主題。崔西與丈夫及兒子居住於倫敦。她希望能看遍維梅爾一生中所完成的三十五幅畫作的真跡（如今她已看過二十八幅）。《戴珍珠耳環的女孩》以過去時代女人試圖突破環境限製、改變自身命運為描寫主題，加上作者對維梅爾的透徹研究，使得該書在美國圖書排行榜上高居不下。