A review of A “Phoenix of Women”: Puritan Spirituality in the Letters of Brilliana Harley Edited by Michael AG Azad Haykin.

Lady Brilliana Harley (1598-1643) was born in Holland to English Protestants in one of the English colony towns of the Dutch Republic. From an early age she was seen to be godly, and as a 24 year old she filled her notebooks with extracts from the writings of the Reformer John Calvin and the Puritan William Perkins. In 1623 she married Robert Harley, a widower, who was also a prominent and committed Presbyterian. He was the patron of the Welsh Puritan, Walter Craddock (now largely forgotten, but whose writings on the believer’s relationship to the law often seem to us to come very close to William Gadsby’s). The Harley home, in Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire, was in the midst of a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War. Brilliana was left to manage the castle and its garrison at this time while her husband was away. The castle was besieged by Royalist forces between 26th July and 9th September 1643. Brilliana refused to surrender, even when Charles I personally wrote commanding her to do so. The garrison held, with the loss of just one life (70 of the besieging army were killed), until the Royalist army was called away to join the siege of Gloucester. In her final letter to her husband before she died on 29th October 1643, she wrote: It has pleased God to exercise me with many troubles, but my God has not yet left me, and I hope He will not. Dear sir, pray for me, for I have great need of it, that the Lord would never leave me to myself, but guide me by His wisdom, that I may be able to deal with the subtle and malicious enemies that are against me.
This book contains a selection of letters written by Brilliana, mainly to her husband and her son when they were away from home. The strength of the letters is in demonstrating the life of grace in the soul. As the preface points out, many go to the Puritans to learn doctrine, but in this book we see “lived Puritanism” — an example of a godly life. Brilliana illustrates for us the virtuous woman described by Lemuel in Proverbs 31. While times have changed, there is much here to instruct us today, especially in Brilliana’s care, advice and concern for her son away at university.
Records of the lives of godly women of the past are harder to come by compared with those of godly men. Professor Haykin is to be commended for bringing Brilliana to our notice.

Review published in the Gospel Standard Magazine, August 2026

See more here: “A Phoenix of Women” published by Hesed & Emet, £9.95