I love Vermeer's paintings and traveled with a friend to Washington, D.C. to see his show at the Corcoran a few years ago. I was looking forward to reading a rich novel about this painting and was quite disappointed by the writing. I thought the premise was clever, giving life to who the girl in the painting was and using that as a springboard for the story about Vermeer, his life, his family, and life during that period of time. Tracy Chevalier's writing felt stilted, the characters were not fully developed, and I was left wondering why I had read it at all. I would have been happier had I been able to give this a higher rating because I really wanted to. Alas, it fell short.