«Quiet little Clara»—that's what they call the girl at the heart of The Secret Drawings (Jaca Book 2020, translated by Laura Molinari and Vera Minazzi), a French child living in Chartres during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as the city bustles around the cathedral that will one day become famous. Her parents and brother love her and encourage her greatest passion: drawing. Yet Clara feels she is always in the way, never quite where she belongs. The one who torments her most is Gilbert, a neighbor boy her own age—and he targets her precisely because she is different. Clara is mute.
One day, her great dream finally seems within reach: to work in the glazier's workshop. True, there is a bully who steals her precious drawings—the very ones that prove her talent—but thanks to Master John's keen eye, Clara becomes a real apprentice in the craft of stained glass.
In introducing young readers to the wonders of the magnificent Gothic cathedral of Chartres, The Secret Drawings by Vèronique Massenot and Bruno Pilorget tells a story that speaks to our time. What it means to grow up feeling different; the insidious, creeping form of bullying; the love of those who care for us, which sometimes—heartbreakingly—is not enough; the need to chase our own dreams, and the equal need for others to help us realize them. It is a fable of beauty, wonder, and hope—a vivid, powerful remedy against the shadows that surround us.
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