Chevalier, Tracy (1962– )

US writer. Her novel Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999; filmed 2003), a fictionalized account of the subject of a well-known painting by the 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, became an international bestseller, acclaimed for its simple, clean prose and rich atmosphere.

Her other novels, also based on historical works of art, include The Virgin Blue (1997), Falling Angels (2001), The Lady and the Unicorn (2003), and Burning Bright (2007).

She was born and grew up in Washington, DC. After receiving her BA from Oberlin College, Ohio, she moved to England in 1984. She worked as a reference book editor until 1993, when she did an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where she was taught by English writers Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain.