Book Review
Feb. 20th, 2010 02:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Illuminator
by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
This tragic novel takes place at the end of the 14th century, in and near Norwich, England. It concerns Lady Kathryn Blackingham, widowed head of a small manor, her sons Colin and Alfred, a very talented illuminator named Finn, and his daughter Rose. They are all brought together when the local monastery hires Finn and Kathryn agrees to house him and his daughter while he does the work. Kathryn and Finn fall in love, as do Colin and Rose. However, these are dangerous times and Kathryn is hard-pressed defending her manor holdings and sons against a Church greedy for her money and a Sheriff greedy for her body and her land. There is also the emergence of the Peasant's Rebellion and Finn's involvement with John Wycliffe to contend with.
I really liked the intricacy of, well, not the plot per se, but the forces shaping the plot. Both Kathryn and Finn have to navigate complicated situations and make extremely weighty decisions in the midst of a tangled web of feelings and actions. Vantrease is not afraid to have her characters make wrong-headed and even objectionable choices, and she is a good enough writer to keep them sympathetic in spite of it. Kathryn, Finn, and their respective children are good people, but also complicated and flawed. And they act like it. Vantrease surrounds them with a wonderful cast of minor characters, including Julian of Norwich.
by Brenda Rickman Vantrease
This tragic novel takes place at the end of the 14th century, in and near Norwich, England. It concerns Lady Kathryn Blackingham, widowed head of a small manor, her sons Colin and Alfred, a very talented illuminator named Finn, and his daughter Rose. They are all brought together when the local monastery hires Finn and Kathryn agrees to house him and his daughter while he does the work. Kathryn and Finn fall in love, as do Colin and Rose. However, these are dangerous times and Kathryn is hard-pressed defending her manor holdings and sons against a Church greedy for her money and a Sheriff greedy for her body and her land. There is also the emergence of the Peasant's Rebellion and Finn's involvement with John Wycliffe to contend with.
I really liked the intricacy of, well, not the plot per se, but the forces shaping the plot. Both Kathryn and Finn have to navigate complicated situations and make extremely weighty decisions in the midst of a tangled web of feelings and actions. Vantrease is not afraid to have her characters make wrong-headed and even objectionable choices, and she is a good enough writer to keep them sympathetic in spite of it. Kathryn, Finn, and their respective children are good people, but also complicated and flawed. And they act like it. Vantrease surrounds them with a wonderful cast of minor characters, including Julian of Norwich.
