One Illumined Thread by Sally Colin-James is a fascinating story inspired by the author’s personal reaction to a viewing of the painting The Visitation by Florence artist Albertinelli. The subjects are Mary, mother of Jesus and Elisabeth, her cousin, mother of John the Baptist. The artwork captures the meeting of the two as they share in the joy of their miraculous pregnancies.
This intriguing novel with its three timelines is strung together by a single common thread. Three women seek self-fulfilment through the use of their creative gifts but often are often hampered or harmed by the men overseeing their lives. These women have a number of things in common. They live in a world where ‘duty, not opinion is valued in women.’ They have no control over their lives and fight for the freedom to choose, even Dr Reed in 2018. She works with textiles (as a conservator restoring ancient fragile textiles) and often cannot sleep. She feels she is always slipping into a ‘freefall only broken when…working on a textile.’ It appears her studio is her haven. A place to work through her grief after losing her eighteen year old son.
This novel covers so many things (too much to write in a review). I found the more I pondered, the more I saw! One main issue explored is the history of restraints put on women over the centuries. In the past, women were expected to acquire certain skills for marriage: to play an instrument, learn a foreign language and to embroider. Heaven forbid if they wanted to do something else! In the modern thread, Dr Elisabeth Reed ponders the ancient textile in front of her and considers the young woman who has created it. Would her thoughts have been only on her future husband and the children she might bear? Or did she wonder of her right to other choices? But Dr. Elisabeth Reed concludes ‘The aching privilege of choice, is not all that it should be.’ We can almost hear her voice, tinged with disappointment from bitter experience.
The oldest timeline of the story is ancient Judea. It gives us a shuddering view of King Herod’s tyrannical rule. Since his crowning, there is no safe place for women or children. Not even for his wife, Mariamme, who lost her life due to his jealousy. But Elisheva, another woman of this time, who has been shunned due to her infertility, finds joy and fulfilment in learning the art of glassblowing. Because she ignores the social perceptions of her time, she is seen as a ‘woman who does not know her place’. Women were seen to be grinding, weaving, baking and cleaning and rearing children. Not doing glass works—a task 'not meant for the hands of a woman.’ Is she disobedient in choosing this work? What has she got to lose for the townspeople have been calling her Milha. ‘Salt. The curse of fertile crops.’ She is reminded of Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt after being warned not to look back while fleeing Sodom. Regardless of those negative connotations, salt’s preservative qualities are quite useful in preventing spoilage. Also, salt is a symbol of friendship and loyalty in Judaism. It seals a bargain. And its essence remains the same. Even when salt is tossed into boiling water for cooking, once the liquid evaporates, its particles return. (Sounds like courage to me in the face of trials.) Elisheva realises that salt’s immutable properties make it also essential for creations in glass! Something of great interest to her.
In Florence 1503, Antonia has fled the harsh fury of her mother so many times. She is seen as a disappointment. She enters a church and gazes on the painting with Virgin Maria, ‘uncertain and pensive’ and ‘Santa Elisabetta, greeting her young cousin with a swell of affection. Sharing the news that they will both become mothers.’ She is moved by the tenderness between Maria and Elisabetta and wishes her mother looked at her the same. Captivated by the scene, forgiveness enters her heart through the wordless conviction between these two figures on canvas. And she says: I see you. To be recognised and accepted means everything. (I dare say this may have been the author’s own experience when she gazed upon the painting or at least it provided the inspiration). Ironically, Antonia becomes betrothed to the artist of this painting and life takes her on some unexpected turns. After a horrid accident, she explores a way to make pure white paint. ‘The colour that determines the beauty of all others’. She begins her own creative journey, encounters betrayal and learns that all ‘secrets leave traces’.
Each of these three ladies across time are connected by the need to capture beauty in art in some way. Dr Reed with conserving textiles, Sheva with her blown glass art and Antonia with paint pigmentation. Each are trying to create, preserve and proclaim their individuality. These women portray the creative female spirit and its illuminating possibilities. Women are made for more than just menial tasks. Humans have the ability to be sub-creators as noted in Tolkien’s sub-creation theory. Throughout history women, particularly, have had to fight for this recognition. One Illumined Thread elegantly portrays and celebrates the strength of the female spirit to rise above overwhelming obstacles and to still shine through the darkness that surrounds them.
The theme of threatened male power is seen throughout the three time lines. It seeps out of the modern day thread where the John the Baptist head sculpture is on display in a gallery for portrayals of power. Then in ancient Judea we see King Herod raging on with his endless acts of violence for he could not ‘tolerate another who threatened his sense of power.’ Lastly, in Florence’s Renaissance period the double dealing Pope Clement forms an ‘unholy alliance with brute emperor, Charles’. These shouts and whispers of insecurity and aggression battle on, touching and changing the lives of those under their bloody thumbs.
The 2018 timeline narrator is the one who holds the single thread that binds the stories all together. Dr. Reed inspects the artwork and pulls out the stories of each woman and reflects on them and her own life. This is a rich and moving story of depth and poetic beauty. Even when I was whisked away to the past, I felt the authenticity of the settings. I knew the author had done her research well for I felt effortlessly transported by the descriptions, characters and plot. The separate threads come together seamlessly in the end to create an illuminating tapestry of hope, triumph, respect and compassion that can be shared between women across centuries. And what is the message for women today? To not ‘forget the power of creating together.’ I highly recommend this literary masterpiece. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy.
