Summary
Brenda Rickman Vantrease: Illuminator
England, 14th century. A time when the whim of a nobleman or the wrong look of a bishop can seal anyone's fate. The printing press had not been invented yet. The books, all in Latin or Norman French, are rare and valued, copied with great pains, painted with beautiful illuminations and beyond the reach of the common people.
But the turmoil surrounding the government weakened the country, the old feudal system slowly begins to crack, and the absolute power of the Church begins to collapse. Finn is a master of illumination and works not only for the Church, but also for the Oxford priest, the heretic John Wycliffe. Behind the back of the powerful abbot of Broomholm Monastery, Finn is making illuminations for Wycliffe - for the translation of the Bible into English, so that the Word of God will reach ordinary people.
Finn has another secret that will put him and his beloved daughter in great danger. His life path will meet with Lady Kathryn, mistress of the Blackingham estate in East Anglia, who, as a widow living alone, is struggling to provide a future for her fifteen-year-old twin sons.
Although she tries not to pay attention to the greedy nobility or the Church, Lady Kathryn cannot refuse the Church's request to receive the widower Finn and his daughter as guests in her house. Although initially suspicious of him, Finn will soon prove to be an exceptional companion: educated, perceptive, pleasant and, as such, irresistible.
In Brenda Rickman Vantrease's medieval England, justice is dictated by power and whoever has it, violence is the first and not the last resort, and love must give way to duty.
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