A Vision of Light

This is one of my favorite books and when I find copies of it in used bookstores, I buy them so I can give them to people to read.<br /><br />Riley has the ability to put the reader into the mindset of women in history and to show how they thought and how they managed to survive in societies that could be extremely dangerous for intelligent women.<br /><br />In this book, the main character survives the Black Plague and learns from a light that appears to her how to save the lives of others. Of course, she is accused of witchcraft, and rescued, but there is so much more to the story than that.<br /><br />This is a book I have been happy to reread every so often.

Reading this tale was an absolute delight. It was 5 star on the enjoyment scale. There was enough there for two books. But I would never conclude redundancy, because the pop and power of the personalities of Margaret and Brother Gregory required that verbiage.<br /><br />It's England countryside village during the 1340's and Plague is the catalyst. But overall it is a tale of a female who is a feisty saint. She's centered in good intent, and yet the world gives her little to nourish or bloom her seed of intelligence. In fact, quite the opposite of dire and manipulative marriage bonds are foisted upon her at 13.<br /><br />This is the adventure of her next 10 years. And within them, she experiences changes and turmoil sufficient for 5 decades. Margaret's thought patterns are often quotable. And particularly at times, extremely funny. Her answers to inquiry can be literal and savvy beyond her time and generation. <br /><br />She becomes a midwife and the main body of the book is Margaret recording her story to Brother Gregory who is paid to be her scribe. <br /><br />But there's more too after her completed book and eventual self-printed manuscript. More that becomes surprising besides the healing gifts she experiences coupled with spiritual connection. Margaret lives in and of her own time and religious dominated paradigms. Be they changing to printed words and manly theories. <br /><br />It's an old fashioned and witty story. I would never expected from the slow start that I would have enjoyed this book as much as I did. Reading this author in the future; that is a surety. 4.5 stars. <br /><br />

This is a dual time line story written before it was cool (and overdone).<br /><br />It is humorous historical fiction set in the medieval period with a strong sense that the era was well researched. How clever to have a woman of the 14th century write her autobiography dictated to a begrudging friar as women were not taught to read or write. That is the more contemporary story while her story beginning from childhood is told through her narration. Interestingly she is a woman with a magical "gift" and also a midwife so there are lots of opportunities for drama there. Medieval times are still a bit too barbaric for me but the humor throughout helped me to digest that.<br /><br />The story moves along at a fairly fast clip and flows for the most part - a tad slow/long midway but with a strong finish. This reminds me of the feel of the Princess Bride in the mode of story telling and the combo of scary and humorous elements. This is part of a series.

4.5 stars <br />This book took me forever to read. Not because it was dull (it wasn't) and not because it was hard (it wasn't ) but because I loved it so much that I intentionally dragged it out as long as I possibly could, just so it would last. I adored it so much that I turned the sequel back into the library unread, because I knew these are books I want to own and Reread multiple times. <br /><br />I docked it a half star because there's a bit of a lull midway through, but it's not much of one and it doesn't last long.

This novel is set in England in the middle of the 14th century. It all starts when Margaret, a wealthy but illiterate merchant wife, struggles to find someone willing to write her memoirs. She meets Brother Gregory, a copyist down on his luck, who reluctantly accepts the post. Like most of his colleagues, Gregory is resistant to the idea of writing about the life of a commoner (and a woman besides) because only classics, religious texts or saints biographies are worthy of a scholar’s time and effort. <br /><br />The book started strong with the author presenting Margaret and describing the medieval setting really well. Misogyny by Brother Gregory was annoying at first but it is typical of the times, his religious views and exchanges with Margaret were believable. The tale of Margaret’s life was interesting and varied, although some of her stories were predicable <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="fe40eeb5-e06b-4a79-8cbc-8b716b5f6e25" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="fe40eeb5-e06b-4a79-8cbc-8b716b5f6e25">(like the babies switched at birth)</label>. <br />The tales are populated by medieval class stereotypes, with the poor but wise peasant, crafty merchants, dishonest peddlers, wealthy and wicked lord and unkind clergymen. They have a picaresque quality but were also a bit humdrum. Unfortunately, the novel for me started going downhill at the halfway mark and by the time I reached the ending I had enough. <br /><br />In the book, you’ll find stories of religious fervour and superstition, mystic visions and miraculous healing, witchery and heresy trials, pestilence and alchemy, violence and plenty of death. I would have preferred less stories and more character depth and I didn’t like the conclusion at all. <br />Based on the many glowing reviews, once again I seem to be in the minority with my opinion, so even if this novel didn’t work for me it may work for you. <br />2.5 stars rounded down.<br />

A Vision of Light is historical fiction at its best. I've heard Judith Merkle Riley speak on several occasions, and the reason I believe this trilogy is so good is because of the intense research she did to make her books historically accurate. Margaret, the main character, survives the plague, speaks with God, helps with childbirth and manages to stay alive in a time when they burn women as witches. This is a really good book.

I loved this book! Such a joy to read so it definitely goes on my list of favorite books. On to the second in Riley's excellent trilogy. 5+ stars.

I don't read many book from this kind of historical fiction but I got interested in this one. I think it was a pretty good for this genre.<br /><br />I wasn't sure to give it 3 or 4. The thing is that somewhere in the middle I lost my interest in the story, it did catch up again. But I am not sure it is the book's fault or just the circumstances when I was reading it, so I stay with a 4 because for the most part I thought it was really good.<br /><br />What I loved the most is the writing style. Actually in a way I felt it didn't fit too well to a book set in 1340, those seem to be darker, but I think it added to me liking the book. It wasn't a comedy but I also liked a lot of humor that it had. Was a nice way to look at what was happening then.

**3.5**<br><br>Started off potentially strong and then it became uneven for me. And then the ending picked up and finished with a cliffhanger. <br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380386579ra/746139.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>The story starts when Margaret is in her early twenties and married to her second husband. She desires to write her memoirs so she hires the reluctant Brother Gregory. After that the story jumps between the "present day" and the story of Margaret's life, beginning when she is about 11.<br><br>Until the very end, I had very little interest in the "present day" storyline as not much happened, but we are given glimpses of the kind of person Brother Gregory is and what Margaret's life is like and the type of person she has become.<br><br>I found Brother Gregory somewhat infuriating due to his extreme views about women and their incapacity for independent thought (and this is not an exaggeration. I know that women were considered inferior in the middle ages, but Gregory's stance still feels extreme. And highly offensive to a modern woman obviously). I know his character was supposed to be more funny than aggravating (i.e. his constant quest for Humility, despite his constantly arrogant thoughts and thick-headedness), but despite the intended irony, I still wanted to slap his face. Obviously this was all set up so we could witness his change due to Margaret's influence. But that literally didn't come about until like the last 10 pages and, according to the synopsis, seems to manifest itself more in the sequel. <br><br>The story of Margaret's life was the more interesting part to me, but even then the story had its peaks and valleys and there were parts that were rather slow moving in between the interesting ones. <br><br>Usually when I read medieval fiction I have no problem imagining the scene in my head as I read, but despite the author's extensive use of descriptive language, I found that I had a hard time creating that picture in my head during this book. And I'm not quite sure why. <br><br>I highly caution anyone that picks up this book because they think its a romance. Its historical fiction. It sounds like the sequel may be more of a romance, but this one certainly was not. I only bring this up because I've seen it described as a romance in certain places and people that pick this up for those reasons will be disappointed. I went into it thinking it was more historical fiction and I liked it, just did not love it.

I was reading this on Kindle for a book club and got 17% in when I decided to set it aside for a few days to decide whether or not I should return to it. I have decided to forsake this book. I was very excited to read it because of the description but in reality, there is too much violence, abuse, rape etc.