Tracy Chevalier is an American-British novelist best known for Girl with a Pearl Earring, her bestselling historical novel inspired by the Vermeer painting.
Tracy Chevalier specializes in vivid, meticulously researched historical fiction, often illuminating the lives of women and ordinary people connected to art, craft, and history.
Her breakout novel Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999) imagines the story behind Vermeer’s famous painting through the eyes of a young maid in his household; it became an international bestseller and an acclaimed film. Her other novels, including The Lady and the Unicorn, Remarkable Creatures, and The Last Runaway, explore varied historical worlds with the same care and empathy.
Chevalier is admired for bringing the past to intimate life and for centering the overlooked figures behind great art and events.