I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
An interesting premise behind this story which sadly failed to deliver the writing was laboured and lacked originality. The MC's were not very interesting.
An OK read.

This book was okay. I wish it grabbed my attention more though. I liked learning about the female painters in the 12th century and how they tried to get into an painters guild dominated by men. Overall it was just okay.


I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

Haarlem, Holland 1633, Judith Leyster is an apprentice painter to Frans de Grebber. Judith is one of the only female painters along with Frans' daughter, Maria. Judith will do anything to be admitted to the Guild so she can sell her work. However, no female has ever been admitted. Maria is working on a secret painting, although art is not her passion, religion and atoning for her own perceived sins comes first. Judith is set on clawing her way to the top, and having independence. Maria finds herself when she sets off on her own and discovers the art of healing and helping others. The two women will need to find one another again as the men of the city decide to plot against the young, up and coming painters.

A Light of Her Own explores the lives of two little known female painters of the Dutch Golden Age. I love learning about new and important female historical figures, Judith Leyster and Maria de Grebber were real painters. History would obscure Judith's work and sell it under a man's name. In the book, I enjoyed that the plot focused on the strained friendship of the two women and their faults. The writing through Judith's eyes engaged me, the way Judith saw color, light and other features in the world around her transformed scenes that would typically be dull or boring into something magical. Judith's ambition was also refreshing. Though what she did was sometimes illegal or immoral, it was nothing that other male painters at the time weren't doing as well. Maria's point of view shed light on the religious tones of the time in Holland as well as the social system. The mystery of the disappearing linseed oil did help move the plot along, but was a little weak for me. However, I did enjoy how Judith brought the truth out in the end. Overall, an engaging story that helps bring to light the lives of female Dutch Golden Age painters.

I found this title disappointing. It had potential for all sorts of intellectual richness, but never really accomplished what it might have. Neither of the two central female characters came across as compelling enough to keep me reading. I would definitely consider reading more work by this author, but I found this title disappointing.

A Light of her Own follow the Dutch, 17th century female artist Judith Leyster and that focus I enjoyed. It's always nice to discover new, interesting historical people to read more about. But that's were my interest stays, really. It took me almost two weeks to finish this relatively short novel and a few days later I remember nothing about the plot.

In A Light of Her Own, two women painters (paintresses?) in the 17th century Dutch Golden Age grapple with their place in society and their own shortcomings. Both main characters — Judith Leyster and Maria de Grebber — are real historical figures, and I appreciated how this novel alerted me of these two overlooked women.

The passages describing the act of painting were my favorite parts of this story. I didn’t care much for any of the characters, and felt too anxious about the miscommunication, deceit, misfortunes, debts, and mistakes of Judith, Maria, their families, and the surrounding cast of the Haarlem painter’s guild to feel very secure in the plot. The added religious themes in Maria’s chapters felt detached from Judith’s chapters, particularly due to Judith’s relative nonchalance to faith. If she had been a fervent Protestant, that may have countered Maria’s unwavering yet mostly hidden Catholicism (Protestant Holland, y’all).

Overall, this was not a poorly composed novel, just one that didn’t grab me. There were a few too many plot threads that were not fully fleshed out, and I found myself wanting more of some content (painting!) and less of others (lepers in the third act?). Though I did appreciate the research and imagination that Carrie Callaghan put into this, constructing a fictional life around just a few known details.

[2.5/5: A niche work of historical fiction that covers Dutch painting politics of the 1630s (for once, not tulips!). Centers women’s artistic labor in a man’s realm. Readers who want to know more about female artists throughout history may find some interest in this, along with anyone who really loves Rembrandt and all those Dutch dudes. It doesn’t linger as much on the art itself as some art-themed historical fiction, but has some interesting insight on the time period and the gender disparity in early modern northern Europe.)

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.