The Water Devil

December 4, 2006
Set in England in 1362, Riley's charming conclusion to her trilogy that began with A Vision of Light
finds Margaret of Ashbury still having amusing conversations with God ("As Supreme Judge of All Things, I assure you that you are one of the half-dozen most talkative of My creations"). Margaret's scrofulous and quarrelsome father-in-law plans to use her marriageable and well-dowered daughter, Cecily, as a bargaining chip in a squabble about riparian rights and borders. But the creature who dwells in the spring in question, the eponymous Water Devil, has other plans. Fortunately, Margaret has a lovely collection of con artists and mountebanks to help her save the incorrigible Cecily from being wed to an aged lecher. But who will save her son from the Water Devil? This is a sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic, but always compassionate love story with a perfect ending.

Starred review from December 1, 2006
Gifted healer Margaret of Ashbury, now Lady Margaret de Vilers, returns to readers after too long a hiatus (see "In Pursuit of the Green Lion", 1990) as mother of a rambunctious brood and wife to Sir Gilbert de Vilers (a.k.a. Brother Gregory), the Duke of Lancaster's official chronicler. Life would appear to be looking up for this former village girl; however, a legal dispute over Gilbert's father's prized oak grove and the mysterious pool within it embroils her in village affairs, nearly costing her her life and threatening her children despite her special powers. This work is a riotous Chaucerian mixture of the sacred and the pagan, the lordly and the lowly, the human and the heroic, delivered with a humorous twist sure to delight everyone. Hopefully, this colorful and enthralling picture of 14th-century England, painted by an author with a wonderfully unique voice, will bring Riley the widespread recognition she deserves. Highly recommended. [Originally published in Germany and now available for the first time in English, this is the final book in the "Margaret of Ashbury" trilogy; reading group guide included.Ed.]Cynthia Johnson, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

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