A blast from the past. I really enjoyed this writer as a teen, and it's fun to read her again now, in new edition. For fans of historical fiction who enjoy woman-centric narratives, this is the right fit.

A Vision of Light is the second Judith Merkle Riley book I've read, the first being The Oracle Glass, which I loved. This one is the first in a trilogy following the story of Margaret of Ashbury. The novel opens in the year 1355 with our heroine, Margaret, hearing the voice of God telling her that she must write a book:

*** "I am only a woman,” I said to the voice in my mind. “I have no letters, and do not know Latin. How shall I write a book, and what shall I put in it, as I have never done any great deeds?"

The Voice answered:

"Put in it what you have seen. There is nothing wrong with being a woman, and doing ordinary things. Sometimes small deeds can show big ideas. As for writing, do as others do: get someone to write it for you." ***

The person she gets to write it for her is Brother Gregory, a young friar who is trying to make a living as a scribe writing letters for London’s largely illiterate population. Brother Gregory has a low opinion of women but he needs the money so he accepts the commission and reluctantly begins the task of chronicling Margaret’s life. He is sure a woman can’t possibly have a story worth telling, but once he begins to meet Margaret and listens to what she has to say he becomes drawn into her tale despite himself.

I won’t go into too much detail regarding Margaret’s story. There’s not really a central plot that I can describe; beginning with her early life in the little English village of Ashbury, it takes the form of a picaresque novel as she moves from place to place, having a series of adventures along the way. There are outbreaks of plague and accusations of witchcraft. There are encounters with humble peasants, wicked noblemen, travelling entertainers and mysterious alchemists. And then there is the Vision of Light which Margaret receives one day, leaving her blessed – or cursed – with the miraculous powers of healing.

I found A Vision of Light great fun to read, even though, like The Oracle Glass, it contains a few of the things that often irritate me in historical fiction: the occasional use of anachronistic language, for example, and a heroine whose views are sometimes more appropriate to the century in which the book was written rather than the one in which it is set. The writing is imbued with so much humour, life and energy that those things didn’t bother me the way they usually would; it’s a book that doesn’t take itself too seriously, while at the same time touching on some serious – and sometimes dark – topics, and getting the balance just about right.

Although the tale Margaret relates is the most compelling part of the novel, the framing narrative is also interesting, mainly for the interactions between Margaret and Gregory and the way their relationship develops as they spend more time together. Gregory is an intriguing character in his own right and although his attitude towards Margaret makes him difficult to like at first, I thought he did improve as the book went on! I’m sure I will read the second novel, In Pursuit of the Green Lion, at some point so I can find out how the story continues.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Canelo Books and the author, Judith Merkle Riley, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of A Vision of light in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.
I am a huge fan of historical fiction which is why I was so excited to receive my review copy of this book.. I really enjoyed reading it.
I found the storyline to be well thought out and written. I was fully immersed into the atmosphere of the setting. I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy.
Well worth a read for fans of the genre.

A really enjoyable book about the attitude to women and religion in the 14th century. There are elements of mystic fancy about Margaret's powers but that adds to the story. The horrors of childbirth were quite graphic but the whole book is lightened by an amusing and diverse bunch of characters. Highly recommended. I will look forward to the next instalment.

I received an e-book copy of this title from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

This is actually quite an old book (30 years since the first publication) that I have somehow never come across in my life. It came recommended by Wife, who insisted that I was going to enjoy this novel. And I did.

The novel follows the story of a young woman living in the fourteenth century, Margaret, which she dictates to a monk in order to keep a record of her life. It is partly an adventure novel in the picaresque mode, and in that way, it has everything, miraculous cures, actual miracles, singers, jugglers (I think), fake priests, alchemists, midwives, Black Death, evil merchants, good merchants, evil priests, good priests, evil lords, good lords, break-neck pacing (at times), burning at stake, and so on, and so on. But it is also quite concerned with the place of woman in the middle ages, in relation to Church, to men, to her family, to society. The observations may not very new in 2018, but they are nonetheless still valid and interesting.

One thing that points to the age of this book is how passive the heroine can be. True, she can be fairly resourceful (especially in her career as a midwife), but when it comes to the pitfalls she falls into, she is almost always helped out of them by someone, she doesn't scheme on her own. She can be very saintly, very goody-goody, at times almost unbearably so; and this is quite a contrast with how such characters are written today.

A very enjoyable book, overall. I'm not the greatest fan of the picaresque in literature, but I still did like reading about Margaret's adventures around England.

My thanks to Canelo for an ebook edition of Judith Merkle Riley’s ‘A Vision of Light’, the first in the Margaret of Ashbury trilogy. ‘Vision’ was originally published in 1989.

It does start quite slowly as the illiterate Margaret seeks out a scribe, Brother Gregory, to write down her thoughts in the form of a memoir. He is sceptical about a ‘mere woman’ needing to record anything about her life but he needs the money.

So the narrative follows Margaret and Gregory in their present lives interspersed with her account of her life and work as a midwife and healer.

It was a wonderful novel with no obvious anachronisms to disturb my sensibilities. Margaret was such an interesting person and I felt very caught up in her story. There are also plenty of engaging supporting characters.

While it has some lighter moments, Riley didn’t shy away from portraying the 14th Century realistically. The power of the Church was especially quite chilling. Again, I can only applaud the research that went into her writing.

Canelo are publishing the entire trilogy in ebook format on 15 November 2018 with striking new cover art. I have already purchased the remaining books and look forward to finding out how her journey continues.

I also hope that Riley’s other three works of historical fiction might find their way into ebook editions in the U.K. as it is a format that is so helpful to people like myself with vision problems.

I'm fascinated by historical fiction featuring strong women and I like stories set in Middle Ages.
This book was perfect for me and I loved everything.
I loved the characters, Margareth above all, the description of everyday life and the wonderful plot.
I'm so happy this is part of a trilogy because there will be more to read.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Canelo and Netgalley for this ARC

The first in a trilogy about a woman in a man's world. The interesting thing here is that we are in medieval England in 1355 to be precise and that the main character Margaret of Ashby has a very fascinating series of stories to tell.

She goes to see Brother Gregory and the tales start to flow. From this comes a whole series of issues and problems since women of this time were not expected to read or write, let alone have their stories written down by someone else. That someone else is a religious man more used to writing important scripts and texts so he feels demeaned in many ways writing a woman's words.

But through her words, we go back to a time where a woman's stories were amongst the most interesting. There's tales of witches, treason, religious themes and more besides. The church was central to the plot and there were so many fascinating sides to this. Not going to go into detail here, but there's a lot to digest and enjoy here.

I did feel let down by the ending however as I didn't feel it did the book justice at all. or Margaret's story.The strengths of the novel were the setting and the whole medieval themes though.