Katherine

Set in the mid 14th C. Katherine de Roet is a convent-raised young woman who, with her sister, comes under the care of Queen Philippa (wife of Edward III), and despite being without dowry marries the rather difficult Sir Hugh Swynford. Eventually she becomes the mistress of Philippa and Edward III's son John of Gaunt, and after bearing him four children, becoming his wife. The children's births are eventually legitimized and John and Katherine eventually are the forebears of both the Tudor and Stuart dynasties.

But this story is of the relationship between Katherine and John and the many twists and turns it takes before these lovers can be together. When Katherine turns 15 the Queen summons her from the convent to Windsor and she soon gathers much attention for her beauty. When Sir Hugh Swynford attempts to ravish her, the King's third son, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster comes to her rescue. Hugh gets out of the situation by saying he wishes to marry the fair young maiden. Sir Hugh is a rather disagreeable and homely man, but it is seen as a step up for young Katherine, without dowry, to marry him. She does but very reluctantly. Meanwhile she is befriended by the Duke's wife, Blanche, and returns her friendship for which young Katherine is eventually richly rewarded.

Katherine and Hugh go to live at his mismanaged estate, Kettlethorpe, near Lincoln which is not too far from the Duke and Duchess of Lancaster's favorite home of Bolingbroke Castle. Katherine is not exactly happy but accepts her life. But when she befriends Blanche again and then sits with her as she lays dying from the black death, her whole life changes.

To give more details than this is to rob the first-time reader of the discoveries they will read. It is a story to particularly savor as when the Duke tells Katherine "She is my heart's blood. My life. I want nothing but her." Talk about a Cinderella story! Those better versed in English history of the mid to late 14th C than I am will realize just what is happening in some of the dramatic historical scenes than I did.

But even after Katherine and the Duke are finally together, all does not go well. Seton details the history of this time beautifully and, sometimes, painfully.

Seton includes quotes from Chaucer (who was married to Katherine's sister Philippa). It is also surmised Chaucer may have had Katherine in mind for some of his passages, particularly in "Troilus and Criseyde."

This book made slow reading for me as every few pages I was either picking up a historical reference to read more or searching on the internet. I do have to warn readers though, keep the hankies handy. I could have used an entire box and even woke my husband up with my sobbing. Most of these tears were tears of joy though.

Readers who enjoy their books both historically accurate and very romantic are sure to enjoy this beautiful story.


Brings to life a woman who was quite important to history   October 10, 1999
84 out of 84 found this review helpful

I first read this book I was fourteen. Since then I've acquired both hardback and paperback. I read it about three or four times a year, my favorite parts being the Christmas scene and the pilgrimage. As did some of the other reviewers, this book whetted my appetite for medieval history. Katherine Swynford is remarkably free of the histrionics that unfortunately seem to characterize so many historical romance heroines. John's and Katherine's daily lives are realistically portrayed, such as John keeping Katherine as a mistress while he marries for power. Ms. Seton doesn't shrink from depicting the filth and disease rampant in that time period either. Nor does she shirk from depicting the terrible position women occupied in that time period, as when she writes of how Katherine was forced to marry Hugh Swynford. He's also portrayed fairly--a ruffian certainly, but a man who falls love deeply, having nothing in his experience to prepare him. He doesn't metamorphose into a wonderful person as a result of this love. Undoubtedly Katherine would really have been as resentful of him as she is portrayed. Love doesn't exactly triumph in this novel, rather it wins by sheer dogged persistence, as when John and Katherine are finally together when they are middle-aged and free of their other social and personal restrictions. I also enjoyed the religious aspect of the book, in which Katherine goes on a vision quest, or spirit journey, gaining hardwon inner peace. Lady Julian's quotes made me cry, while Julian's prescriptions for Katherine's anemia made me laugh out loud. Katherine's hungering for and finding peace and true oneness with Spirit is a nice contrast to all the bloodbath over doctrinal trivialities. It makes a nice comparison between piousness and spiritual fulfillment. Ms. Seton also points out, using Katherine's treatment by the people of Lincoln, and in the hardship of running her estate, how that inner peace gets buffeted by the world. It's not portrayed as being easy, as indeed it isn't. She includes a similar quest in Avalon and Green Darkness, but it's best portrayed in Katherine. Ms. Seton writes about spirit journeys without making them sentimental or hackneyed. I'm glad it's still in print and that women are passing it on to their daughters. It's the way historical romances should be done.


This is a truly brilliant book!   September 4, 1999
41 out of 42 found this review helpful

I first read this book as a teenager, it changed my life! I'm now 40 and I must have re-read it at least a dozen times. Anya Seton transported me back to the fourteenth century and I live and breath those characters each time I re-read it. I have looked up all the places on the map, visited Old Bolingbroke, Kettlethorpe and Lincoln Cathedral. The Cathedral bookshop publishes an interesting booklet about Katherine and Joan's tomb. The book has inspired me to study medieval history at university, read about medieval mysticism and The Great Pestilence and study the lives of the mighty Plantagenets. One can learn so much from this book, matching the facts to the necessary fiction and the truly great thing about it is that it compels the reader to want to find out more and more about this fascinating period in English history. Oh how I wish the Savoy was still standing! English history lovers will also enjoy the excellent Green Darkness (tudor)and Devil Water (Stuart).


Well-researched but not well-written   May 12, 2006
J. Fuchs (Los Angeles, CA United States)
37 out of 41 found this review helpful

I really wanted to like this book and I seem to be in the minority in thinking it's just okay. On the plus side, Anya Seton has done her homework and it's nice to read a novel that focuses on the women of the late medieval period, especially one that was so important to history but so overlooked. Katherine Rouet a/k/a Katherine Swynford was the grandmother of two kings of England -- Edward IV and Richard III -- and the great-great grandmother of Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs. Despite being of humble birth, she managed to become not only the mistress of John of Gaunt, the third son of King Edward III, but eventually became his wife. The book covers her life essentially from her teenaged years through the deposition of John of Gaunt's nephew, King Richard II, but focuses mostly on her life as a young women during the time of her first marriage, the death of her husband, and her affair with John of Gaunt. This was also a time during which numerous tragedies befell England, including plague, war and the peasants' revolt.

The problem with the book is that it just isn't very well written. The language is clumsy as is the structure, and Katherine is written as just too-good-to-be-true, which makes her seem less than real and not as interesting as she ought to be. Seton does a better job with the supporting characters, particularly Hawaise, Katherine's loyal serving woman, Cob, a runaway serf who benefits from Katherine's kindess, Brother William, the friar who disapproves of Katherine's affair with John of Gaunt but tends to Katherine and her children anyway, and Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous poet who was a part of John of Gaunt's retinue.

The other problem I had with this book was the romantic drivel. History doesn't have to be that well written to pull you in (although it helps), but love and sex scenes really suffer from clumsiness in the telling, and although there is no doubt about how much John of Gauant and Katherine Swywford loved each other, Seton makes their romance read like fantasy. There's also a connect-the-dots feel about the book if you alredy know a fair amount about the events that took place during her lifetime. You can almost sense Seton marking time until the next death or event of civil insurrection, especially since so many characters have dreams of foreboding in which they (accurately) see the future. I bought the book because it was on so many people's lists of their favorite historical fiction, but after finishing it I started reading another apparent favorite of many people, "Forever Amber," which is so much better-written it made me realize why I could never really get sucked into "Katherine." If you want to read about this time period, one of the most interesting in English history, I would recommend two wonderful non-fiction books by Thomas Costain, "The Three Edwards" and "The Last of the Plantagenets," which are better reads. You may still want to pick up "Katherine," which is worth reading, but the best historical fiction makes real people come alive. Good research isn't enough -- it also takes great writing and, sadly, this book just doesn't have it. Read it if you are interested in the period, but if you are looking for historical fiction that is both well-researched and well-written, I'd recommend over this book Colleen McCullough's "The First Man in Rome" (about Gaius Marius and the end of the Roman Republic), Margaret George's "The Memoirs of Cleopatra," Mary Renault's "The King Must Die" (which although about the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur brings ancient Crete alive) or Michel Faber's "The Crimson Petal and the White" (about a prostitute in Victorian times).