“He spoke her name as though he held cinnamon in his mouth.” This book is pure passion and poetry in novel form. A historical fiction about Vermeer and his muse that would soon be the famous Girl with a Pearl Earring. She works as a maid in his household and... you know what happens next. The way Chevalier writes about art, color, and passion... there's truly nothing like it. You find yourself licking your lips and blinking hard at her descriptions. She writes details the way Vermeer painted clouds -- filled with multiple colors that you could never imagine would go together, but do. This book is fire. Simply fire.