Title: Bruning Bright

Author: Tracy Chevalier

Publisher: Plume 2008

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 327

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Read Your Book Shelf; Popsugar - Used Book Sale

In the waning days of eighteenth-century London, poet, artist, and printer William Blake works in obscurity as England is rocked by the shock waves of the French Revolution. Next door, the Kellaway family has just moved in, and country boy Jem Kellaway strikes up a tentative friendship with street-savvy Maggie Butterfield. As their stories intertwine with Blake's, the two children navigate the confusing and exhilarating path to adolescence, and inspire the poet to create the work that enshrined his genius.

I have enjoyed some of Chevalier's other books, but this one ultimately fell flat. I didn't find the characters all that interesting. The plot seemed to be nonexistent. The story just didn't go anywhere and I was bored for most of the pages. The other real redeeming portion of the book were the sections depicting London in 1792. I found myself drawn into the city at a time of great upheaval. The writing comes alive in those passages. Otherwise I was just bored.