The Huntingfield Paintress

Thanks Urbane Publications and netgalley for this ARC.

Short and full of girl power! A woman born before her time that deserved her story told.

For the first eight years of her marriage to Vicar William Holland, Mildred was thrilled to travel early 19th century Europe. She collected many pieces of art and artifacts from wherever they were posted. Now, William has been posted to a tiny church in an equally tiny Suffolk village. There’s nothing to do here, unless you like endless hours of visiting and drinking tea. The baby the couple wishes for fails to appear, so Mildred turns back to her first passion, painting. She begins to transform her husband’s little church into a thing of magnificent beauty, concentrating mostly on the ceilings, where she would lie on her back on scaffolding just as Michelangelo did. Based on a fascinating true story, readers should go online (or visit) to see the church and the beautiful, ethereal paintings Mildred Holland created

"Oh my god."

It's a highly rare thing for me to be so taken by a book that I say anything at all. I'm not one for hyperbole so trust that for me, my feelings about this book are not overstated.

Magnificent. Transcendent. An epic saga of one woman and her devoted husband.

Forget the Nest.. or any other book being pushed by the big publishers this year. THIS is THE BOOK TO READ.

It should win all the awards. It should be listed as best of the year.

It's rather unassuming at first. A quaint seeming piece of historical fiction about a passionate woman and her religious husband finally arriving at the parish where he will preside. A small village in England.

A village too small for her spirit. Villagers suspicious and wary about anything out of the ordinary.

Change is just not to be had. It's highly improper. It must be shunned in case it destroys their way of life.

"Everywhere she looked there was evidence of people taking action, being in the world, taking part. They were free to act. Was it what they themselves would have chosen? Perhaps for others her life appeared privileged, full of choice and replete with freedom. It was not the case. She felt herself only to be only a bystander in her own life; destined never to be an active principle, fated only to watch others."

Such an apt description of life for ladies of the period. I can not imagine being able to maintain my sanity in such a world.

But this is no maudlin book. It will not bring you low.

It also will not matter if you are of their faith.

There's a simple yet immense purity to the depiction of human nature and community that had me hanging on every word. Floating at the ceiling with Mildred as she painted. Seeing it come alive.

Ironically, not but a week ago, I read an advanced reader's copy of the excellent treatise by Claire Travers, [book:Beginning Illumination: Learning the Ancient Art, Step by Step|27507403]. It focuses on the use of illumination in manuscripts but the techniques are the same as the ones Mildred uses in her painting. It was officially published 2 days ago. This book comes out tomorrow! Very different publishers but how very kismet that I should end up reading both so close together!

Regardless, I want to climb the rooftops and shout to the world, "You MUST READ THIS BOOK!". I don't recall having felt this way since I read Jenny Lawson's "Let's Pretend This Never Happen." Which incidentally, Jen (Lancaster), I did actually hurt myself laughing while reading that book.

I've been a bit low lately but now I feel bliss.

Thank you Pamela Holmes. Your debut novel is simply out of this world. You will be one to watch. Thank you Urbane Publications for finding this and bringing this shining gem to light.

Incidentally, this is based on a true story. Mildred really did exist and paint that masterpiece.
** I received a free advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for my honest review **

,lovely inspired story. Based on a real life woman, well researched and written.

This is a lovely story based on the life of Mildred Holland, the wife of the vicar of St Mary's Church in Huntingfield, who painted the ceiling of the church with beautiful religious iconography over a period of several years. Pamela Holmes brings the people and times to life with her beautiful prose. Highly recommend!

For a look at Mildred's work, follow this link: https://eastofelveden.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/mildred-hollands-seven-year-task/

A big thank you to Urbane Publications, Pamela Holmes and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

3.5★

Between 1848 and 1866, the little Church of St Mary’s in Huntingfield, Suffolk, underwent a transformation from a small, dank country church to the site of what seems to be a glorious internal expanse of religious art. And it was done by the rector’s wife.

This is a fictionalised account of how that might have happened, with a fair bit of imagination about the people and their interaction. To me, the story is revealed much like a television docu-drama, as if we’re witnessing a true story unfolding with a narrator who is sometimes restrained but occasionally bursts out with a sudden lusty scene.

I found it less engrossing than some historical fiction, but I know others have loved it. The author creates a good sense of place. William and Mildred Holland have been travelling abroad, where she, particularly, has been enthralled with exotic locales, costumes, and climate. Now William is returning to take over the position he’s been waiting for as the rector of the little St Mary’s Church.

“A dismal sense of damp filled her nostrils as Mildred pushed open the door of St Mary the Virgin church. In the entrance, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark. Air was cold on her cheek and a regular dripping sound echoed from somewhere. A trickle of anxiety ran through her.”

She is deeply unhappy and lonely in the village while her husband is admired by all and in his element as the new rector. They are cut from different cloth. But she presses him to clean and renovate the church.

She’d been inspired by a wonderful painted ceiling when she and William visited the Church of St Martin’s in the Swiss alps.

“What kind of person could be fixated on such a vast, intricate and painstaking task, in the sure expectation that few outside his village would ever see it? Only God would be his witness. Now she asked herself; was she embarking on a similar road?”

This is the story of how she embarked on that road – how a dank little English church gained new life due to the dedication of Mildred “Millie” Holland.

There is a lot about paint and painting, but I particularly liked the gold leaf, ordered for the angels’ wings.

“With deliberate care, books of gold leaf are lifted from the heavy leather pouches in which they have travelled from London. These glittering pages reveal no stories but magic dances on their mirrored surfaces. A gentle breeze could tear the shiny sheets from uncertain fingers, so fine and thinly beaten are they. Only the heat from Mildred’s hand makes the gold leaf rise like a magic carpet from the books of gold.”

Many thanks to NetGalley and Urbane Publications for allowing me a copy to review. The quotations are from this copy, so they may have changed in the final edition, but they will give you a sense of the author and her style. I expect she will attract many more visitors to Huntingfield.

Here’s a link to St Mary’s Church in Huntingfield:

http://www.stmaryshuntingfield.org.uk...

And here’s a link to the Swiss Church of St Martin’s, where Millie got her inspiration:

http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-au/st...