The Cloister and the Hearth (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

This 1861 historical romance was Reade's most popular novel with readers and critics alike.  Set in the 15th century, and notable for the author's painstaking fidelity to period detail, the novel concerns the adventures of a young illuminator of manuscripts, Gerard Eliason, as he travels through Europe and embraces then renounces a religious vocation.