Publisher Description

A glowing first novel that brings us "historical fiction in the grand epic manner, beautifully felt and written" It is England, in the fourteenth century -- a time of plague, political unrest and the earliest stirrings of the Reformation. The printing press had yet to be invented, and books were rare and costly, painstakingly lettered by hand and illuminated with exquisite paintings. Finn is a master illuminator who works not only for the Church but also, in secret, for John Wycliffe of Oxford, who professes the radical idea that the Bible should be translated into English for everyone to read. Finn has another secret as well, one that leads him into danger when he meets Lady Kathryn of Blackingham Manor, a widow struggling to protect her inheritance from the depredations of Church and Crown alike. Finn's alliance with Lady Kathryn will take us to the heart of what Barbara Tuchman once called "the calamitous fourteenth century." Richly detailed and irresistibly compelling, Brenda Rickman Vantrease's The Illuminator is a glorious story of love, art, religion, and treachery at an extraordinary turning point in history.

Author Biography

Brenda Rickman Vantrease lives in Nashville, Tennessee. The Illuminator, her first novel, was a Booksense Pick in hardcover and is being translated into eleven languages.

Review

"A sweeping portrayal of the distant past...ample in romance, mystery, and adventure." --The Boston Globe "A remarkable debut novel." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An absorbing expertly told tale...embroidered with plenty of homespun detail." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A luminescent and very readable portrait of a dark time in history." --Booklist "If you liked The Birth of Venus...you'll love The Illuminator." --Good Housekeeping.com "Brenda Rickman Vantrease's The Illuminator is one of the most engaging books I've had the pleasure to read in many years. Extraordinary characters of an extraordinary period in history are portrayed with passion that only an accomplished writer can deliver...This is simply a wonderful book." --Terry Kay, New York Times bestselling author of The Valley of Light and To Dance With the White Dog "A wonderful novel---a tumultuous panorama of Wycliffe's and Chaucer's England, with an absolutely compelling and irresistible heroine. This is historical fiction in the grand epic manner, beautifully felt and written." --Max Byrd, author of Shooting the Sun "In her elegant novel, The Illuminator, Brenda Rickman Vantrease breathes light into the dark corners of feudal England, laying bare the consequences of political and spiritual oppression, and illuminating the power of both love and the written word to save." --Charmaine Craig, author of The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy "A very absorbing and masterfully written novel that twines two stories together---a personal one of life on a manor in 1379 and a political one about the undercurrents that led, eventually, to the Reformation. Impressive new talent Brenda Rickman Vantrease has created a cast of characters that stand out as individuals you want to follow." --Margaret George, author of The Autobiography of Henry VIII "Brenda Rickman Vantrease's The Illuminator is one of the most engaging books I've had the pleasure to read in many years. Extraordinary characters of an extraordinary period in history are portrayed with a passion that only an accomplished writer can deliver. . . . This is simply a wonderful book." --Terry Kay, author of The Valley of Light "A rich and original debut novel. Brenda Rickman Vantrease writes with a strong voice, imaginative scope, and an audacious reach about complex characters during a fascinating historical period." --Valerie Miner, author of The Low Road "The Illuminator is a novel with something for every reader. It has young love, older love, political plot and intrigue, and religious and philosophical conflict presented as grand adventure. . . . Each detail is telling, pitch perfect, important. The relationships are complex, engrossing. Vantrease's feel for time and place is natural. This book absolutely glows." --Frances Sherwood, author of The Book of Splendor

Long Description

It is England, in the late fourteenth century, a time when the old feudal order is starting to crack, but the whim of a lord or the pleasure of a bishop still has the power to seal nearly anyone' s fate. The printing press has yet to be invented; books are rare and costly, painstakingly lettered and illuminated with exquisite paintings. For Lady Kathryn of Blackingham Manor, a widow and mother trying desperately to safeguard her holdings without the dubious protection of her late husband, it is a time made both sweeter and more perilous by the arrival of a master illuminator called Finn. Caught between the King' s taxes and the Church' s tithes, Kathryn strikes a bargain with the local abbot: she will take Finn and his pretty young daughter into her household in exchange for the monastery' s protection. Finn is working not only on approved church texts, but secretly---and dangerously---on a forbidden English translation of the Bible. As the hesitant friendship between Kathryn and Finn grows into a passionate alliance, wonderful new storyteller Brenda Rickman Vantrease brings us a glorious novel of love, treachery, faith, and redemption on the eve of the Renaissance.

Review Quote

If you liked The Birth of Venus ...you'll love The Illuminator .

Description for Reading Group Guide

A Biographical Note From the Author I grew up in a series of small southern towns. My favorites were always the ones with the biggest libraries. Learning to read was the singular most liberating moment of my life. I still remember the day I brought home my third-grade reader, a book of real stories--not those skinny little See Spot Run books. This one had some heft and a yellow cover, and I read it all the way through in three days. I particularly liked a fairytale about a knight trying to win a fair maiden by the impossible feat of riding his horse up a glass mountain. I can still see the illustration of that plumed and helmeted knight spurring his white steed up that shimmering blue glass mountain. My father was a Baptist minister, and some of his congregations were farther away from the library than my bicycle or roller skates could take me. When I ran out of books, I would dig out my father''s old college text, a massive tome entitled Masterworks of World Literature . Boredom drove me to the epic poetry of John Milton and The Nibelungenlied and El Cid, the English poets, a little Sophocles, even Oscar Wilde, when I would have preferred to be reading Nancy Drew or a teenage romance novel--a beneficial deprivation. I also made up stories in my head. My first published effort was a poem submitted by my ninth-grade English teacher to a student anthology. (I haven''t written any poetry since--maybe because when I was called up to the stage in assembly to receive my award I stumbled on the steps. Overcoming shyness is not something one can learn in the pages of a book.) While still in high school, I received my first form rejection slip from Ladies'' Home Journal . I''m still embarrassed just thinking how awful that story was --and I still remember how much that first rejection hurt. At sixteen, my writer''s heart was very na

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