We are all familiar with Vandemeer’s famous Girl with a Pearl Earring painting. For me it will always be the centre of the greatest teen heist movie ever written (St Trinian’s, fight me on this one) but I like to think I have come to appreciate it for itself since then.

Tracy Chevalier’s novel follows Griet, a maid hired to clean Vandemeer’s studio. She gets drawn into his world, begins to see things the way he does – the way an artist does – and finds herself sitting for a portrait, in secret from the rest of the household.

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Griet is a sublime character to read from. She is quiet, understated, and observant, with a strength to her that makes her incredibly interesting and gives her a glorious room for development and growth. The story is completely character-driven but it feels like we are on a roller-coaster of a plot, desperate to find out what Griet sees or feels next. The relationship she has with Vandemeer – usually referred to as her master, rarely by his name – is incredibly complex and delicate while being filled with tension. The few reservations I had at the very start soon disappeared as I was completely entranced by the story.

In her introduction, Chevalier writes that she hopes this book not only makes the reader look at Girl with a Pearl Earring differently, but to look at all art differently. I feel like she has achieved that. I finished the book and was instantly itching to go to an art gallery, to stand and look on in wonderment as I imagine what stories might have led to each piece. It’s incredible that no only has she managed to create a story from a single, deceptively simple painting, but she has managed to capture the atmosphere of that painting so perfectly in her writing. I’m incredibly glad I read this book, and I look forward to revisiting it time and time again.