A glowing first novel that brings us “historical fiction in the grand epic manner, beautifully felt and written”*
It is England, in the fourteenth century—a time of plague, political unrest and the earliest stirrings of the Reformation. The printing press had yet to be invented, and books were rare and costly, painstakingly lettered by hand and illuminated with exquisite paintings. Finn is a master illuminator who works not only for the Church but also, in secret, for John Wycliffe of Oxford, who professes the radical idea that the Bible should be translated into English for everyone to read. Finn has another secret as well, one that leads him into danger when he meets Lady Kathryn of Blackingham Manor, a widow struggling to protect her inheritance from the depredations of Church and Crown alike. Finn’s alliance with Lady Kathryn will take us to the heart of what
Barbara Tuchman once called “the calamitous fourteenth century.” Richly detailed and irresistibly compelling, The Illuminator is a glorious story of love, art, religion, and treachery at an extraordinary turning point in history.

“Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s The Illuminator is one of the most engaging books I’ve had the pleasure to read in many years. Extraordinary characters of an extraordinary period in history are portrayed with passion that only an accomplished writer can deliver...This is simply a wonderful book.”—Terry Kay, New York Times bestselling author of The Valley of Light and To Dance With the White Dog

“A wonderful novel—a tumultuous panorama of Wycliffe’s and Chaucer’s England, with an absolutely compelling and irresistible heroine.”* —Max Byrd, author of Grant & Shooting the Sun