The Glassmaker

Written by Tracy Chevalier, The Glassmaker (2024) is a historical novel that follows the life of a fictional glassmaker named Orsola Rosso and fuses traditional historical fiction with elements of magical realism, depicting the primary characters in different eras that range from 1486 to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chevalier also describes key events in the history of Venice and develops themes of creativity, gender, and memory. Chevalier first established her reputation as a writer of historical fiction with notable works such as Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999), Remarkable Creatures (2009), and The Last Runaway (2013). 

This guide refers to the 2024 HarperCollins hardcover edition.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of pregnancy loss, racism, and enslavement.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in 1486, on the small island of Murano, located in the Venetian lagoon a short distance from Venice proper and subject to the same government. Orsola Rosso is a young girl growing up in a family of glassmakers; she has two older brothers, Marco and Giacomo. At this time, glassmaking is a highly respected art, and families closely guard their secrets; all glassmakers are required to live on Murano, where they form a close-knit community. 

When Orsola is a teenager, her father dies unexpectedly, and Marco becomes the patriarch and head of the glass workshop. A woman named Maria Barovier, who runs her own glass workshop, offers to teach Orsola how to make glass beads. Because beads are not considered prestigious or lucrative, Maria advises Orsola that she will be able to develop her skills without offending her male guardians. 

Orsola secretly begins selling her beads to a German merchant named Klingenberg to earn her own money; he has always been the biggest purchaser of glassware made by the Rosso family.

As Orsola matures, she struggles to balance her bead making with her growing domestic responsibilities; she must care for her baby sister, Stella, and for her nephew after Marco gets married and has a child. Nonetheless, Orsola finds creative fulfillment in her work. She also falls in love with Antonio, a young man who is employed by her brothers as an apprentice glassmaker. Unusually, Antonio is not from Murano—he is the son of a fisherman and grew up in Venice but longed to learn the glassmaking trade. 

In the world of the novel, time periodically jumps forward by decades or centuries, while Orsola and her friends and family only age very slowly, so that their lifespan is spread over centuries. Therefore, in 1574, Orsola is still only 18 years old. At this time, a deadly plague breaks out in Venice, and harsh quarantine measures are imposed; when Marco’s pregnant wife falls sick, she is forced to go to an isolated island, where she dies. Orsola’s mother, Laura Rosso, accompanies her daughter-in-law and eventually returns with Orsola’s second nephew, Raffaele. Meanwhile, Orsola and her brothers are isolated in their home for a lengthy period, and Orsola’s beads play a key role in ensuring that the family has enough money to survive.

After the end of the plague, another time jump takes the narrative to 1631. Marco remarries a woman named Monica, who comes from outside Murano and brings a daughter from her first marriage; Monica and Marco then have two children of their own, and Giacomo is briefly married to Monica’s cousin, with whom he has a daughter. Despite Orsola’s increasing domestic responsibilities of caring for the growing Rosso family, Orsola and Antonio become lovers and hope to marry. However, Marco refuses to promote Antonio and instead hires a man named Stefano, who comes from the Murano glassmaking community. Antonio is furious and decides to move to mainland Europe, even though it is forbidden for glassmakers to leave Venice. Orsola cannot bear to leave her family, and the two lovers reluctantly part ways. After grieving the loss, Orsola eventually agrees to marry Stefano, as this marriage will cement his connection to the Rosso family.

In 1755, Orsola is 29; she has a daughter named Angela and lives a busy life, although she never stops longing for Antonio. Periodically, Antonio secretly sends Orsola a small glass dolphin as a sign that he is thinking of her. In 1797, Venice is conquered by French forces led by Napoleon; Orsola makes an elaborate necklace of glass beads for Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, but never knows whether Josephine appreciates it. Venice subsequently becomes Austrian territory and enters a period of trade restrictions and economic failure. Klingenberg decides to leave Venice and return to Germany. This is a disaster for the Rosso workshop, which has already been struggling with changing technology and evolving tastes. To survive, the Rossos decide to focus on making seed beads (tiny glass beads used to make decorative objects). This work is much more industrial and less artisanal, with less room for individual creativity. To develop this new business, the Rossos employ a young woman named Luciana, who has a thriving seed bead business in Venice.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Luciana marries Raffaele, the most skilled and promising of Orsola’s nephews, and he then moves with her to Venice: This is seen as a betrayal of his family, Murano, and the Rosso glassmaking heritage. Raffaele’s younger half-sister, Francesca, also marries and moves to Venice. Luciana and Raffaele’s marriage is a happy one, and their business thrives; however, the relationship between them and the Rossos in Murano is tense.

In 1915, Orsola’s nephew Sebastiano (Giacomo’s son) is killed while fighting in World War I, and Laura Rosso also dies. Once Laura is gone, Luciana begins occupying the role of family matriarch; she merges the business developed by herself and Raffaele with the historic Rosso workshop. These changes force other members of the Rosso family to reconsider their positions. Stella leaves Venice to work as a warfront nurse (and is eventually killed in World War II), while Orsola sets up a small shop near Piazza San Marco, a central Venetian square. Orsola focuses on selling artisanal glassware made by herself and Rosella (Marco’s stepdaughter), and she and Stefano finally move into their own apartment. 

In 2019, Orsola is 65. Severe flooding damages her shop and the Rosso workshop. A few months later, in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic leads to strict quarantine restrictions in Venice, but even so, Stefano dies from the virus. Orsola adjusts to life as a widow and contemplates the future of Venice, which is threatened by climate change and the demands of tourism.

At the end of the novel, a man named Alessandro comes to find Orsola in Venice; he is the descendant of Antonio. When Antonio left Venice, he became subject to aging at a normal rate and has been dead for hundreds of years. However, Antonio established a family tradition wherein, for centuries, his descendants have been sending glass dolphins to Venice, and this has helped Orsola to keep her memories alive. Despite the vast changes in the world, Orsola feels a sense of connection to Antonio and the love they shared.