A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley

Narrated by Anne Flosnik

Anyone who knows me can tell you two things. First, they’ll tell you that I go nuts for any kind of historical fiction. Second, you’d learn I’m nothing, if not a feminist. Bearing these two things in mind, it won’t be hard for you to understand why I was so pleased to see Judith Merkle Riley’s Margaret of Ashbury novels available in audio format. A Vision of Light, first in the trilogy, was published in 1989. I had given up hope of ever seeing it in commercial audio. Fortunately for me, it appeared in 2012.

A Vision of Light tells the story of Margaret’s early life. Born the daughter of a drunkard, she doesn’t have big dreams. She’s close to her younger brother, and even comes to feel a great deal of fondness for her stepmother. Things change for Margaret when she turns fourteen. Her beloved brother is sent away to study the priesthood, and her father begins to eye her in a most improper manner.

Margaret is married off to Louis Small. He’s a rich merchant, who can offer Margaret a life far beyond any she could have dreamed of. However, this isn’t quite the blessing one might expect for Small is truly an evil man. He thinks nothing of beating Margaret for the smallest of offenses. Only when she becomes pregnant does he show her some mercy. This mercy is short-lived for the black plague is running rampant and Small leaves Margaret for dead.

This begins a whole new life for Margaret. She is saved from death and goes on to become a well-known midwife in London. She attends the births of peasants and nobles. Most of the children she delivers end up living. For obvious reasons, Margaret earns quite a reputation, and people seek her out.

There’s another reason for Margaret’s fame. She has been given a true gift from God which grants her the ability to heal. The Catholic church might have been able to deal with midwifery, but they find healing quite unacceptable.

As usual, narrator Anne Flosnik narrates this novel of fourteenth century England with just enough emotion to keep the listener engaged. Her pacing is wonderful. She takes her time, really allowing the listener to get to know Margaret and the people in her life. Flosnik doesn’t rush through any scene. Instead, each scene and each character is allowed to blossom.

Most of the story is told from Margaret’s point of view. She is dictating her memoirs to Brother Gregory, a rather argumentative cleric with a mysterious past. Flosnik finds just the right pitch and accent for Margaret, and switches back and forth from first to third person narration without a problem.

Flosnik voices male characters quite well. She is able to deepen her voice just enough to suggest that a man is speaking without making it sound forced. If the character is an older man, she adjusts her pitch to account for that. She sometimes adds a certain quaver when narrating elderly characters, both male and female.

This book is full of an assortment of colorful characters. I could clearly tell who was speaking. I am always impressed with a narrator who can manage to give voice to so many very different characters, and can do it in such a way to make each one sound unique.

If you’re looking for steamy love scenes, you won’t find them in A Vision of Light. In fact, I didn’t see any real romance until near the end of the book. However, there are two more novels left, so it’s possible the romance will be fleshed out as Margaret’s story continues. It won’t be long before I find myself drawn back into the world of Margaret of Ashbury, a world Riley and Flosnik have managed to make incredibly appealing.

Shannon

Narration:  A

Book Content:  A

Steam Factor:  You can play it out loud

Violence:  Fighting, as well as some mention of domestic

Genre:  Historical Romance – Medieval

Publisher:  Audible, Inc.

A Vision of Light was provided to AudioGals for review by the narrator.