The Glassmaker

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Orsola chooses to remain in Murano rather than follow Antonio to the mainland, prioritizing family loyalty over personal desire. When have you faced choices between individual dreams and community obligations? What factors influenced your decision?

2. Throughout the novel, the Rosso family must adapt their glassmaking business to changing markets and technologies—from ornate goblets to seed beads to tourist items. Have you or anyone you know adapted traditional skills or businesses to meet evolving demands?

3. Glass beads provide Orsola with both creative fulfillment and financial independence. What creative or productive activities in your life have offered you both personal satisfaction and practical benefits?

4. When Orsola visits the mainland, she quickly returns to Venice, reflecting, “Venice was nimble, it adapted, it relied on its uniqueness” (376). How has your connection to a particular place shaped your identity or life choices?

5. In the novel, glass dolphins function as memory keepers, maintaining connections across generations and centuries. What objects in your life serve as tangible links to your personal or family history?

6. After the COVID-19 pandemic, Orsola reflects on how Venice has survived numerous crises throughout history. How did your perspective on historical challenges shift after experiencing a global pandemic yourself?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Chevalier unflinchingly shows how Orsola’s beautiful beads become entangled in the global slave trade when Klingenberg tells her, “Slavery runs the world” (203). How does the novel address the moral compromises often hidden behind beautiful objects and successful businesses?

2. Throughout the centuries depicted in the novel, women like Orsola, Monica, and Luciana find subtle ways to exercise autonomy despite patriarchal limitations. How does Chevalier challenge conventional narratives about women’s lack of agency in historical settings?

3. The novel ends with Venice facing existential threats from climate change and overtourism. How does Chevalier balance nostalgia for Venice’s past with clear-eyed acknowledgment of its precarious future?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. The magical realism element of time “alla Veneziana” allows characters to experience centuries of history. How does this literary technique enhance the novel’s exploration of tradition, memory, and resistance to change?

2. Glass functions as both a literal craft and a metaphor throughout the novel. How does Chevalier use glassmaking to explore contrasting themes, such as fragility versus durability and tradition versus innovation?

3. The dolphin motif evolves from Antonio’s glass gifts to the actual dolphins returning to Venice’s canals during the pandemic. How does this symbol develop throughout the novel, and what multiple meanings does it acquire?

4. Orsola begins as a curious nine-year-old and ends as a 65-year-old widow who has lived through five centuries. What key moments most significantly transform her character, and how does she both change and remain consistent?

5. Chevalier deliberately parallels historical crises like the 16th-century plague and the COVID-19 pandemic. What commentary does this create about human progress—or lack thereof—across the centuries?