A Vision of Light

In 1355, Margaret of Ashbury depends on renegade friar Brother Gregory to record her life story and state of Mystic Union, and he is forced to accept the state of grace of this "mere woman"

YA-- An appealing novel about Margaret of Ashbury, a 14th-century Englishwoman, who is inspired in a "vision of light" to write her memoirs and tell a woman's story. Unable to write, she hires Brother Gregory to record her memories. He is contemptuous of her ambition, but hungry enough to accept her offer. Riley's ingenious plot then alternates between Margaret's and Gregory's clashes in their present and her telling of her past. The story is fast paced, and the medieval setting is authentically portrayed, whether Riley is describing life on London Bridge, alchemy, or the Black Death. The touch is light, and the characters are charming. Margaret's refusal to accept the place to which her society condemns her rings as true in our century as it does in hers. --Sharon Mathieu, St. Cecilia's School, Houston
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this bouncy first novel, 14th century Englishwoman Margaret of Ashbury heeds a "voice" commanding her to compose her life story. Her kindly old husband Roger Kendall pays for her to dictate her memoirs to unfrocked Brother Gregory. Margaret's scribe grumbles initially about the story's "trivia, and everyday matters," but her adventures win him over. First married at 14 to a sadistic fur merchantreputed to be the Devilwho leaves her for dead during the Plague, Margaret survives to become apprenticed to the herbalist Mother Hilde. In trances of divine light Margaret gains the healing gift, and envisions a forged, steel-fingered weapon for the soldierly work of midwifery. But these forceps and Margaret's powers stir the envy of priests and male doctors, and she is forced to clear herself of witchcraft. The minor characters are stiff and the dialogue is stilted at times, but details of clothing, crafts and interiors, as well as period scenes peopled with robbers, flagellants and strolling players are well realized. Major ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

If Brother Gregory had not been so poor and hungry, he would never have consented to Margaret of Ashbury's request to record her life. Such an assumption of control over her own life through the relation of her history strikes at the heart of male hegemony. Moreover, her life as a faith healer and midwife devoted to relieving the misery of women and the poor threatens the patriarchal hierarchy, both sacred and secular, of 14th-century England. Rich in revealing and well-integrated historic detail, this first novel gives readers a courageous, enchanting heroine who illuminates the female condition and wins the sympathy and respect of the other characters and the reader alike. Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.