The Illuminator

Brenda Rickman Vantrease

ISBN 10: 0312331916 / ISBN 13: 9780312331917

Published by St Martin's Press, NY, 2005

About this Item

First Edition, First Printing with full number line. Fine book in Fine dust jacket. All our books are bubble wrapped and shipped in a sturdy box with Delivery Confirmation. NO remainder mark, NO previous owner markings or inscriptions, NOT price clipped, NOT a Book Club Edition, NOT an Ex-Lib. Dust jacket covered in protective clear wrapper.

Seller Inventory # 016362

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Illuminator
• Publisher: St Martin's Press, NY
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312331916
• ISBN 13: 9780312331917
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

About this title

Synopsis

It is England, in the late fourteenth century, a time when the whim of a lord or the pleasure of a bishop can seal nearly anyone's fate. The printing press has yet to be invented. Books, written only in Latin or Norman French, are rare and costly, painstakingly lettered and illuminated with exquisite paintings---far beyond the reach of ordinary people.

But there are cracks in the old feudal order---and in the absolute power of the Church. Finn is a master illuminator who works not only for the Church but also, in secret, for the heretical Oxford cleric John Wycliffe. Under the nose of the powerful Abbot of Broomholm, Finn illuminates pages for Wycliffe---an English translation of the Bible, meant to bring the word of God to the masses. And Finn has another secret, one that will lead both himself and his beloved daughter into ever-increasing peril.

Lady Kathryn, the mistress of Blackingham Manor, is a widow who finds herself caught between the King's taxes and the Church's tithes. To protect her sons' inheritance, she strikes a bargain with the abbot---Kathryn will take in the illuminator and his daughter, and gain the monastery's protection. What begins as a hesitant friendship between Finn and Lady Kathryn grows into a passionate alliance that touches off a chain of betrayals, tragedies, and unexpected acts of heroism.

Richly detailed and irresistibly compelling, The Illuminator is a glorious novel of love, art, religion, and treachery at an extraordinary turning point in history.

About the Author

Brenda Rickman Vantrease is a former English teacher and librarian who has traveled extensively in the British Isles. She holds a doctorate in English from Middle Tennessee State University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. The Illuminator is her first novel.