The Illumination Of Ursula Flight by Anna-Marie Crowhurst

          This a book that can only be read in it's printed form - no e-books for this one, they really will not do it justice.  It feels like a decadent treat in your hands, from the gorgeous cover which is designed to replicate an illuminated manuscript (see what they did there huh) to the illustrations within to separate sections and chapters the whole serves as an experience in reading and not just a solitary act.  Set around the 1680s the whole feel of the book is evocative of the time, looking like a ha'penny pamphlet in places it just solidifies your immersion in to the life of this one woman.

What a woman our delightful heroine Mrs Ursula Flight turns out to be.  Born of the merchant classes with a father in favour with the newly restored Rex they have wealth.  This doesn't matter to the young Ursula and her playmates are from all classes, even as her father begins her education at the age of 8.  It is to be this education that serves her through her life - a life that includes marriage, cuckoldery, illegitimacy and one of the dodgiest professions in 17th Century England - acting (oh the baseness of it all!).

The language of the tale is a glorious mix of the contemporary and contemporaneous to the period (yes some judicious internet searches were required in places - in others I realised that old Lancashire words I use in my day to day parlance are actually Old English).  As if Ursula's voice is not warm and witty enough to draw you in to this quirky telling of a life then the language alone should do it.  I could rhapsodise for a good thousand more words about this book and dissect each nuance of every situation but I shall refrain.

This is a first novel and it sets an incredibly hard act to follow.  You can certainly understand why the publishing house has decided to publish in hardback and laid out so much in the way of graphic design on it.  This is one book that deserves to take pride of place on your shelves and if you do lend it out you will make sure you get it back.  All I can say is BUY THE BOOK, you will thank me for it - honestly!

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.