I really enjoyed this story and I thought the author did a great job at bringing the era back to life for me and at times I felt as though I was there living with the characters – I was completely drawn in to the plot!

The plot is well planned out and it is great that it is clear how much the author knows about this period, they have really done their research and it was a fascinating insight for me to the subject!

I thought that the characters were well developed and they worked very well with the story. The author had excellent characterisation to make them genuine and believable for me.

Four stars from me – highly recommended!

Historical fiction is my favorite, and historical fiction about artists is even better. This was a very well researched story ofJudith Leyster, a Dutch artist during the Dutch golden age and her struggles making her way as a woman in a man's world. Judith was, in fact, an artist at that time, and I admit I stopped reading at one point to look her up on Wikipedia and see her art for myself.

The story was engaging and drew me into the time period. I will definitely recommend this to my customers. looking for historical fiction.

I came to this book expecting it to focus mainly on the story of Judith and her struggle to be accepted by the male-dominated Guilds who governed the art world of the time. I certainly got this and found her quest for independence and her determination to make the most of her artistic talent quite inspiring. The book also gave me a fascinating insight into the operation of the art market at the time: the power of the Guilds to control the activities of artists, such as setting up a workshop, employing apprentices and even selling completed works.

The reader is left in no doubt how central the act of creating art is to Judith’s existence: ‘Every time she painted, she fell a little in love with her subject, snared by the crevices and shadows and twitches that made the person. Painting meant focusing on the details, much like love. So each of her paintings became, in a way, an act of adoration.’ I really liked the way the author managed to convey Judith’s painterly eye for detail and composition, even as she goes about her daily tasks. To Judith, everything and everyone is a potential subject. ‘Judith looked over at Freija Woutersooz. […] As she spoke, her mouth was tremendously expressive, twitching and curling, but the rest of her expression was calm. There was something about the dichotomy that made Judith shiver. She had no idea how she would paint that woman.’ Judith even manages to diffuse a potentially hostile situation at one point through artistic means!

Alongside Judith’s story, the reader witnesses the experiences of her friend, Maria (although it’s speculation on the author’s part that they ever met in real life). Maria is also a talented painter but she is consumed by a sense of guilt about what she feels is her own sinful nature. It is this, rather than prejudice, that prevents Maria from making the most of her talent and in fact leads her to take a course of action which will endanger herself and, ultimately, present her friend Judith with a difficult moral choice. In addition, the author chooses to introduce a mystery element to the narrative, involving a sinister character and suggestions of corruption in high places…and maybe something worse.

Personally, I found Judith’s story sufficiently interesting without the need for the other story lines. I also believe a glossary (there wasn’t one in my advance reading copy) would be a useful addition to the book in order to explain some of the Dutch words used such as references to currency and measurements.

A Light of Her Own is an engaging story based on the life of a remarkable woman, Judith Leyster, who sought to challenge the social norms and prejudices of the time in order to fulfil her talent for painting. As the author admits in the Historical Notes section, there is limited contemporary documentation about Judith’s life so much of the book is necessarily a work of imagination on her part. I’ll admit that I had never heard of Judith Leyster before reading this book however, thanks to the author, I now know of Judith’s existence and her achievements. A Light of Her Own helps ensure that Judith’s life is no longer hidden in the darkness. (3.5 stars)

I struggled to get into this book, it was most likely me. I love reading HF from the Netherlands and maybe my over excitement got the better of me. I did post a spotlight on my blog and well as a blog tour giveaway. I will try again at another time.

I was drawn in by the cover and by the summary. I couldn't wait to read this.



The story follows Judith who is a painter. She is dodging the law and the whispers of murder. She meets Maria who is a Catholic in a country where it is banned. Judith will become one of the first women to be admitted into the Haarlem's artist's guild. I didn't know of Judith, but I knew of her work. I have seen the portraits and paintings, but I never knew who the artist was. So you can imagine how pleasantly surprised when I connected the dots while reading this and looking at the cover.



It took me a while to really get into the book. The beginning was slow and I didn't connect with the characters right away but after a while, I finally felt invested and moved forward. I was worried it wouldn't pick up, but when it finally did I ran through this and got this done in a couple of sittings.



I liked Judith even though she was pretty selfish from time-to-time. Maria was okay. I enjoyed watching these two strong women battle this world. Men owned everything and ruled over everything, so it was SO hard for ambitious women to succeed. Men sucked big time back then. I felt so bad for Judith and Maria.



The story was slow-paced but it was fun to read all cuddled up. Learned a lot about Judith and the Haarlem's artist's guild. Lots of darn politics for a guild of painters. You would think it wouldn't be but like everything politics and money talk.



Overall, I enjoyed this. It took a while for me to get into the story and it was slow-paced, but it was fun. Poor Judith and Maria. They had a rough time for sure in this man's world. I recommend it if you like a good people story or a good historical fiction. I'll give this 3 stars.

I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Judith Leyster is a painter, she is apprenticed at Frans de Grebber, and she is best friends with his daughter Maria. She is admitted to the prestigious Haarlem Artist’s Guild. She is forced to circumvent some strict rulings set by the Guild so she can sell her paintings to feed herself.

Based on true historical figures, this book is well worth reading.

4☆

Judith Leyster lived in Holland in the 17th century, during a time when such things as painting, needlework and music, were acceptable as feminine pastimes. For example, artist Frans De Grebber taught all his children to paint, including his daughter Maria, and he even took on Judith as an apprentice. Despite this, the domain for women was still mostly in the home, and not as professionals of any kind. This didn’t stop Judith and her unique talent from gaining entry into the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke, as one of their first female members. In this historical fiction novel, Callaghan paints a portrait of Judith with her colorful words.

Callaghan took on writing this biographical, historical fiction novel about a woman for whom there is very little information available, which certainly has its advantages. To begin with, she could take snippets of other information and insert it into her story. For example, the fact that Maria De Grebber learned to paint from her father, led Callaghan to make the assumption that Judith could have studied under Frans, thereby giving her a built-in friend. Since the real biographical information is so thin, none of this seems farfetched, and in fact, seems totally reasonable, particularly considering that Maria and Judith were fairly close in age. Add to that the idea that because we know that this Guild member painter taught his own daughter to paint, logic tells us that he might not have been averse to having a female student in his workshop.

With the stage now set, Callaghan then proceeds to lay out her plot. For the better part of this book, Callaghan gave us mostly alternate chapters featuring Judith and Maria. The chapters about Judith focus on her ambition and her willfulness to succeed, despite all the disadvantages in her path. The chapters about Maria seem to highlight her extremely deep devotion to her (then forbidden) Catholic faith. I must admit that because I wasn’t sure how all of Maria’s story fit in with Judith’s, and because I was promised a profile of this important female painter, the chapters about Maria felt much like a distraction to me. Thankfully, this gets resolved near the end of the novel, but I’m still left wondering if Callaghan didn’t give too much emphasis on Maria here, particularly since I kept rushing through those passages to get back to Judith. I’m not sure how Callaghan could have solved this, but I did feel it detracted somewhat from the overall flow of the book. Fortunately, this was the only problem I had with this book.

What I truly enjoyed here was how carefully Callaghan constructed Judith in this novel. From the beginning we knew that Judith was going to be a force to be reckoned with, if only for the fact that being an ambitious women during that era was a huge strike against her. Callaghan also brought a level of humanity, and eventually humility, into Judith’s professional drive, which truly made the reader admire her as well as appreciate her struggles. This also allows the reader to forgive her weaknesses and the mistakes she makes along the way, making her slightly unpredictable, in the best possible fashion. Maria, however, comes off as far less sympathetic and likeable, and I found myself somewhat confused by some of her motivations, but most of that can be attributed to my own negative attitudes towards overt religious devotion. Despite this, Callaghan did redeem Maria for me, near the end of the novel.

Callaghan’s language style here has just enough of an era-appropriate tenor to make it feel naturally authentic, which avoided feeling forced. I also appreciated the amount of poetically phrased, artists’ observations that Callaghan inserted into the narrative, which further reinforced Judith’s character as being a rarely talented woman. In addition, despite my feeling that some of the chapters devoted only to Maria disrupted some of the flow of this novel and slightly detracted from Judith’s story, Callaghan carefully modulated the action to build towards a very energetic climax. I’d even go so far as to say that the climactic scenes were practically as exciting as ones you’d find in thriller and adventure novels. Add to this a highly satisfactory conclusion that follows quickly afterwards, and doesn’t linger too long and you’ve got yourself a recipe that’s near perfection.
As you can see, I was very pleased with this book, and I can warmly recommend it to lovers of historical biographical fiction. I believe this is a book will appeal to many readers, particularly if they’re looking for something about a relatively unknown woman who was certainly ahead of her time. For all this, I’m giving this novel a solid four out of five stars.

A Light of Her Own tells the story of Judith Leyster and Maria de Grebber. Both women were painters in 1600's Holland. Judith was driven to paint, driven to succeed, while Maria was more interested in religion and spirituality. This novel explores their lives independently and also their friendship.

Before reading this novel, I knew very little about life in Holland during this period. The author, Carrie Callaghan, did an amazing job of evoking the time and place. The descriptions of walking through town, life at home, and especially life in the artist's studio were absolutely fascinating.

I also was not familiar with Judith Leyster and her role in the Dutch Golden Age of art. I spent some time looking up her paintings after reading this book, and am grateful that I learned more about her life and work through reading A Light of Her Own.

The book started a bit slowly for me, but I soon was engrossed in the lives of these women -- especially Judith, with her painting, her struggle to succeed in a world of men, and her unusual (for a woman) acceptance into the Haarlem artist's guild.

Carrie Callaghan has a painterly way with descriptions, and I found many of the descriptions of daily life and the artistic process to be vivid and fascinating. For example, Judith carries buttons for a future painting in her pocket:

"She reached into her pocket, the pouch hung from her waist, and took out a handful of buttons. It was a habit of hers to carry around the components of a painting so she could consider them, learn their curves and their secrets, whenever she had a free moment" (chapter 3, location 259).

I recommend this novel for readers of historical fiction, and especially for anyone who is interested in art history.

This novel is set during the Golden Age of Dutch painting. In 1633, in Haarlem, Judith Leyster is a young woman striving to have her own artist’s workshop and to be the first woman admitted to the artists’ guild. She struggles with money problems because the male-dominated art world seems to be conspiring against her. Meanwhile, Judith’s friend Maria is a guilt-ridden Catholic, in a time when her religion is banned, always looking for ways to atone for her perceived sins.

This book felt so flat to me. It is full of historical detail about domestic life and the technical aspects of painting, so the author obviously did considerable research. However, the novel’s style, inconsistencies in plot, and poor character development left me feeling that considerable revision is needed.

Let’s start with style. The author has a tendency to overuse short, choppy sentences: “The flash of wet paint suggested a few lines. On the right sparkled a small star. She gave a slight smile and used the back of her hand to wipe away another tear. Her monogram now marked the building as her own. She dabbed a bit . . .” Then there’s the repetition of words. For instance, some form of the word shiver is used 18 times, and cold appears 38 times! And paragraphs are so disjointed. For example, Judith and Maria go to visit a dying man: “The green-striped coverlet stippled as Maria added her hand’s weight to the bed, and Judith thought of the fields of hay bending in the wind that she had seen once while traveling to a countryside tavern. Someone had since harvested that hay, and what did the field look like now?” Is this supposed to illustrate Judith’s obsession with painting? Later, “She walked slowly along the canal and watched the ripples as well as the few remaining raindrops fracturing the reflected trees. Why was it so complicated, she wondered, to have what so many others had? A livelihood, a scrap of freedom to do as she pleased?” She admires the beauty of nature, as an artist might, but then that beauty has her bemoaning her lack of independence? Some transitions are definitely needed.

Then there are the inconsistencies and gaps in logic. Judith tells a man she has “urgent business in Den Haag” but that man later comments that she can go to Den Haag to help her friend. How does he know her urgent business is to help a friend? Judith asks a friend how long he apprenticed with the painter Frans Hals when that friend started at the same time as she did? A young boy approaches Judith and says, “’I’m from the prison. They sent me to find you, right?’” Who is “they”? Maria sees smoke coming out the window of a house but she is distracted by a bird cooing?

Maria describes a relic as “’Bone fragments. In a silver reliquary, which was itself inside a gold reliquary’” though she was told the relic was “’An ornamental silver box holding sacred bone and a carved bronze reliquary’”! Maria hopes that a priest “had not segmented the bone, [a relic], which was already small.” So it’s not bone fragments but one “already small” bone? And why would a priest lend part of an “already small” relic to a friend whose parish has “Not painters, but sculptors or some such trade”? Why would sculptors need a bone fragment?

The problem with characterization is that characters behave inconsistently. Judith is all over the place. When a friend is so ill she could die, Judith doesn’t tell her friend’s father, a loving father who is very worried about his daughter?! Then later she just blurts out the truth. She promises, against all common sense and obligation, to keep a secret and does so for the longest time, but then breaks that promise?

Oh but Maria is even more scattered. She has a traumatic experience that leaves her afraid to walk in Haarlem but then shortly afterwards she convinces her father to let her travel alone to Leiden and to stay overnight in a city she has never visited. She worries about “how she was going to find her way in a new city” but then “she declined the directional guidance of the older gentleman who had chatted with her during the ride [in the carriage to Leiden].” She stupidly doesn’t find herself accommodation for the night before curfew, thereby placing herself “in danger.” For someone so guilt-ridden about her “sins”, she lies in a letter to her father? Maria is supposed to be about 25 years old, but she behaves as if she’s half that age: “she needed to learn to sacrifice her pride. Though perhaps Judith should sacrifice hers. Maria had sacrificed so much already.” She becomes upset with Judith for breaking a promise rather than being grateful for her saving her life?

I think there’s an interesting story to be told about Judith Leyster, a real person, but unfortunately, this novel does not do that.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

I like reading books about strong women and Judith was definitely one . Against the odds, she secured a place for herself in the Guild as an artist who was able to sell her paintings in the early 1600s in Holland. She was trying to survive as a woman in a male dominated profession. Life in general was not easy then, and this is a story about survival as well.

In a Light of Her Own a historical fiction novel set largely in Dutch Haarlem during the 1600's, is about the lives of Dutch painter Judith Leyster and Maria de Grebber, also a painter and daughter of Franz Pietersz de Grebber. Leyster was one of the first women painters to join the Haarlem Guild after the Reformation. (There are some indications that Sara van Baalbergen was the first woman accepted into the Haarlem Guild in 1631. The "Sara" in this book is not that Sara.)

Judith Leyster and Maria de Grebber make for interesting, contrasting characters and, though there is no historical indication the two women were as close as portrayed in this book, they certainly knew one another since Judith studied with Franz de Grebber. The de Grebber family was Catholic, while Leyster was, like the majority of the Dutch after the Reformation, Protestant. While possibly disadvantaged due to his faith, de Grebber was nevertheless a member of the Guild from 1600, and his studio produced his work along with that of his three children Pieter, Albert and Maria without their needing to separately apply to the Guild to be able to legally sell their work. Judith Leyster, however, was determined to form her own studio and in this novel we see her potential path during times in which few women took up a Guild profession.

For me one of the saddest facts is that Leyster, M. de Grebber, and van Baalbergen (of whose work none is known to have survived to the present day) all married and seemed to have produced little art after they began to have children. Leyster, who married artist Jan Miense Molenaer, had much of her surviving work misattributed to her husband, following her death in 1660 at the age of 50, until the mid-1800's. Her unique monogram JL* (the star being a reference to the Dutch Leyster/Leister which means Lead Star, as in the North Star used for navigation) led to the reattribution of 39 of her surviving works. (For comparison, that is more than have survived of Johannes Vermeer's work!) Leyster's dynamic style (for the era in which she lived) resulted in one of her paintings being mistaken for that of her contemporary Franz Hals, with whom she may also have studied. Upon discerning her signature, many more of Leyster's works were rediscovered. Fewer paintings attributed to Maria de Grebber have survived. She also married an artist, though not a painter.

This is a lovely novel that allows you to imagine the art, life and world that Judith Leyster and Maria de Grebber lived in. While being a female painter in this era was not easy (if you didn't come from a Guild family like de Grebber did), it is notable that there were quite a few women painters actively working in the Netherlands in this era, in contrast to that which you see in countries like France, Spain or England in later centuries, even during the so-called Age of Enlightenment.

With its gentle pace, this book should appeal to those who enjoy the merging of art and historical fiction.

(blog review has image of Leyster's self-portrait of 1633 here)

I received a Digital Review Copy of this book from Amberjack Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

You, like me, might well fund yourself googling various personalities and events while reading this very interesting book about Judith Leyster, a "less known" Dutch artist but one who has a painting in the US National Gallery of Art. Her life as a female member of the guild was not easy- although most young painters of the time were similarly in debt and struggling for supplies and patrons. It is also the story of her friend Maria and if there is a fault to this novel it is that Maria's story would have made a full blown book in itself. Maria struggles with expectation and with her faith but she and Judith are as bonded as sisters (even when both turn away from the other because they are focused on their own issues.). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is well written and researched historical fiction.

2 stars
A Light of Her Own is historical fiction set in the 1600's. Ehh, I just couldn't get into the story or the characters. The book had so much promise too. The premise is one I found myself very interested in reading, yet I found myself skimming early on. The writing was just to slow for me. I found myself unable to connect with or even care about the characters or their story. I found I did not I am sure there is a market for this book, I just did not like it.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.

I really enjoyed this (I think) slender novel. And I'm struggling to figure out why, as funny as that sounds. The characters are interesting but the relationships between them are...not strongly built up or even really that important. It's the story of two women in the 1600s who want to paint. The major drama in the novel is paint-related, and I had the thought that I should be feeling more of the drama than I did. That said, I really liked it! 4+ stars.

Haarlem, Holland, City of the Netherlands, 1633. The birthplace of Dutch Golden Age painting.

Art, religious conflict, friendships, poverty and fighting for ones own place within society as ambitions are squelched at every turn, are just some of the descriptive strengths within this story.

Two woman, Judith and Maria have been friends for years and each of their lives are beginning to change in ways that neither of them will be ready for, all the while being under the somewhat watchful eye of Maria's father, Frans De Grebber.

Judith Leyster, has a dream..... one that no woman has dared consider in trying to make come true yet alone fight for, no matter the iron hand of the male dominated art world, by becoming the first woman of the St. Luke Artist Guild and the possibility of running her own artists workshop.

Then we have Maria, trying with all her might to make restitution for an incident of her past. She finds herself spinning in the uncertainty of how to right that wrong as the grit and callousness of the cobbled streets, beyond the studio walls, take her hostage in a despicable attack which she holds deep within as to not bring shame to the house; the house of art and light.

A time when rejections are many and opportunities are few, the women of this story do whatever necessary to punch through the icy walls that bind and are unrelenting with their persistence of purpose.

This historical fiction novel is richly expressive and researched. The characters are well rounded, strong and
authentic to the time period.

The artistic aspect is described beautifully as to techniques, style and it's motivation that it will draw you in to the Dutch experience itself. Portraits and the introduction of a tulip, or two, are just some of the painted canvas offerings within this story.

Thank you Carrie Callaghan for bringing us this narrative of light and color in what was a very dark and depressing time of the 17th Century.

I'd like to thank NetGalley for this ARC copy in order that I may review before publication.

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A beautifully written story of Judith Leyster, the first and only woman of Her time admitted into the artist guild, St. Luke's. This story is so captivating and filled longing, angst and determination of a strong woman.

In 1633 a woman wants to be recognized as an artist in the restricted male scene of the Netherlands, but she must act very carefully to follow the rules. She struggles with money problems and a missing brother, also. Her best friend, a Catholic who works in a leper charity, wants to help solve the corruption problem in the male-dominated world of guild artists.

A female painter in Holland in the age of the old masters? Fantasy?

Actually, historical fiction based on the (admittedly thin) evidence of one such woman, Judith. She was apprenticed to a well-known painter and roommates with his daughter, also an apprentice. She was also just as ambitious (maybe more so?) as the male apprentices around her. Would this fly in Haarlem in 1633? You will have to read it to find out!

I loved this book. It had plenty of detail about the domestic and city scenes and the material aspects of oil painting. The characters felt real to me, and there was just enough plot to hold my interest. I read it on Kindle and looked forward to my next opportunity to read more.

Highly recommended for those interested in art, historical fiction, women's lives in other times and places.

With thanks to Amberjack Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 but not rounding up as I would not tell anyone to read this book. Not feeling the love that others did. I found this flat. Plowed through it.

I should have really been engaged, but was not at all. None of the characters really captured my interest--as they should have. Why? The story line was particularly appealing:

"Judith Leyster aims to be the first woman accepted into the prestigious Haarlem artist's guild... Her wayward brother, Abraham, and her closest friend, Maria, both fight demons of their own ... all three begin to find the threads of fulfillment, they find themselves swept up into a conspiracy of the city's most powerful and ruthless men..."

Further, I recently completed a female-centric Museum Hack tour at the National Gallery of Art where Judith was featured in a 2009 art exhibition. But, although a well-researched piece of historical fiction, this book just didn't do it for me.

The writing was good enough--but nothing stellar, and there were some annoying [to me] phrases. Too much shivering:
"her skin shivered with a lacework of pleasure"
"a shiver of pleasure ran up her thigh."
"the house shivered and fell into silence." AND MORE shivering still.

Also:
"her emotions twitched like the lid of a simmering pot."
"her blood warmed even more than the day's heat should have allowed."

And instances where I think the author was trying to be "deep" but failed. Lackluster intended drama. As noted, I plowed through to see how the storyline would resolve. Also, didn't much care for the ending.

On the positive side. I learned a few new things. Life and politics in the Haarlem Guild. And, for example, what a tafelet is -- a reusable notebook with pages that could be scrubbed out [as in painting]. A stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling signaled an apothecary. Much about technique and technical matters of painting--at the time--linseed oil, colors, grinding, etc. But, were cherry and apple tarts really standard fare for an apothecary--as noted?

So, if you're interested in the subject, perhaps you ought to ignore my review and read this book. But.

This is a very evocative telling of life in 17th century Netherlands, for the female members of families in the Artists Guilds. Talent is not enough to merit training for Maria, though she shares a room with her father's female apprentice Judith Leyster. Both are already grown women in their twenties, but around them young painters have become masters at a younger age.
At last both of them take decisive steps into the world on their own, Judith taking illicit commissions to afford her master's fee, Maria traveling to Leiden is search of a missing Guild artifact. But the road forward is fraught with daily perils not encountered by the male artists. And despite managing to set up her own workshop and apprenticeships, Judith walks a fine line, one group demanding three times the talent, and the other chastising her for putting her art before ties of friends and family.
Even when she helps to save her dear friend Maria's life, Maria interprets it in a spirit of betrayal.

In the end, the first and only female master of the Haarlem School would give up painting for marriage to a fellow painter, using her energies to keep his books and only seldom turn out a canvas. Yet this was the age of expansion and the marriage was a happy one. Making history demanded stepping away from invisibility in order to pursue her ideal.
It was a good idea to contrast her achievement with the life of her good friend, since talent does not happen only to brothers and not to sisters. How a person handles being gifted when society is not encouraging is interesting too.