30 before 30...Clara and Mr. Tiffany

I know that I should have been spending more of this week of vacation reading on my list but there have been more things that I've worked on. I am getting close to the end of another novel on my list and I have to check and see if I've written about another book that wasn't on the list but that I read nonetheless because I was taken by the cover. Yes I was that childish that I read the book because of the cover, but really can you help yourself?

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I couldn't help but purchase it when I saw it sitting there on the shelf at Barnes&Noble. This book is a lovely story about the beautiful Tiffany lamps that many people have in their homes, it focuses on Clara and her creative drive in the studio of Mr. Tiffany. 

At the turn of the century there was fine line when it came to women and their place at home and at work. If you think the job market is tight now, imagine what is was like when there were few places women could work and even fewer that would hire married women. There are three relationships that are in this book, Clara and her girls, Clara and the residents of her boarding house, and then finally Clara and Mr. Tiffany.

Clara is the head of her department working with several younger women to cut and make the famous Tiffany stained glass windows. She is the mother figure in this relationship showing these girls what they need to do and how to do it. She talks them through relationship problems and fights almost tooth and nail at some points to keep her department growing and helping these girls. Over time some of the individual relationships are fleshed out more and you see that Clara wants to help change the working situations of women. She talks with the girls about what will happen if they get married, telling them that she cannot keep them in her employment if they are married.

Clara is a widow living in a boarding house in New York which was considered proper for the time. There are many colorful characters that help her move through a range of emotions that some times threaten to beat Clara down before her prime. They are her family and she loves them and I suggest keep a piece of papers with their names on it and some way for you to remember who they are, because these relationships are terribly complex. I take that back a little there are quite a few male characters and at times the pace of the novel makes it hard to keep up.

The final relationship is between Clara and Mr. Louis Comfort Tiffany, her boss. He has a fiery temper and wild ideas, truly a man ahead of his time but passionate about beautiful things. This is the relationship that causes Clara the most heartbreak as she is given artistic freedom in her department and then shot down later because of the extravagance in her designs. They are the perfect work spouses for each other.

I really don't want to ruin the relationships and how they play out but they are beautiful in their own ways. This book is full of beauty that you have to imagine and heartbreak that everyone understands.

Please for the love of pretty book covers read this. I can only imagine how beautiful this movie would be if they ever made it into one.

love ya!