Katherine

Rating:
Summary: A Phenomenal Book - An Absolute Must Read
Review: I was persuaded to read this book by my mother-in-law. She lent me her copy and it took me some time before I decided to read it. I am so glad I decided to. I am usually drawn to true-crime, or fiction; never was I interested in history. The one thing I learned is that this novel reads like no history book. I felt 14 all over again! I was feeling, seeing, and living what the author was writing - something I hadn't experienced in quite a long time. It was so easy to feel connected to Katherine while reading about her and I could hardly put it down. I recommend everyone read this novel for not only its entertainment, but also for its history. This is indeed the best book I've ever read and I will read it again, and again, and again....

Rating:
Summary: The beginning of a life long interest in history
Review: Katharine was read by me first forty-five years ago. It is a page turner that can be read over and over again - and one always wants to know more and look up more. I have lost my copy and am very eager for my daughter to read it although she is now thirty!

Rating:
Summary: You must own this book!
Review: This is the most fascinating historical fiction I have ever read-it can hardly be called fiction for it is so well researched. Not only is it very factual, it is also so well written that you will live in the middle ages as you read. I have read this book four times, and combed the used book stores for a copy after I read the library's-this was in the days before I had amazon.com! After reading Katherine, I read every other book written by this author, and while most were great, none compared to this one. Royals and peasants, religion and sin, love and tragedy, it's all there, and it's real!

Rating:
Summary: Reader from N.C.
Review: As a high-school teacher of British literature, I found this book to be a great incentive to interest twelfth-grade students in both British literature and history. The book was on my recommended reading list every year after I first read it.The story of John and Katherine was one that captured the imagination of the reader and gained his or her desire to read more of this medieval period. I am so happy to see the great rating that you have assigned to it.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing book
Review: I have been looking for this book all over. I read a copy that belonged to someone else and dreaded having to return it. It is one of the books that should be in every readers collection. A brilliant story of love, history, and strength. It would be the first book I would recommend to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: MOVIE KATHERINE
Review: Hello all! I can't help but reading how people want this to become a movie. I am not a famous director. I do want to be though. People say I am a good writier since I have read so many books. So when I become famous, if someone hasn't beaten me to it, I will make a movie out of Katherine! It'll be my first movie. So if in 15 years a movie about Katherine comes out and Taylor Purdon is the director, be sure to see it!

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Summary: Lovers who still live...
Review: I met Katherine and John of Gaunt 35 years ago on a wet summer day. They were living a real life we now know only through books; I was curled up in a window seat falling in love with two people and the story that has stayed with me so many years: for survival and convention,a young girl is forced to marry a man she does not love. By accident, she meets and falls in love with John of Gaunt and so begins a historical love story which lasted their whole lives and beyond. Through plague, war, arranged marriages and long separations their love for and loyalty to each other survived. Rich in history, this is a story of real people who will stay with you for many years.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: I first read it as a teenager and have re-read it more than a dozen times. I would recommend this book to students who couldn't see the point of reading for fun, and without exception, they began to understand the absolute joy of curling up in a quiet corner with a good book. I also credit this book with giving me an enduring interest in history and politics. She draws you into the period and so you end with a very real understanding of why there is such reverence for the Magna Carta. Anya Seton is a solid historian, and a truly great story teller, and I credit her for giving me one of my greatest gifts: a love of reading. This book is not one of the "accepted" classics, but because of this book, I ended by actually enjoying the accepted ones. No, she is not Dickens or Austin or Dostoyevsky or even Mark Twain. But this book is a fine piece of writing and a thoroughly enjoyable read. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed, and I agree with the reviewer who laments that the book is no longer widely circulated. In fact, I find it difficult to believe that Hollywood hasn't discovered it. Someone ought to take note.

Rating:
Summary: Katherine
Review: I read this book in the early '50s and have never forgotten how I lived that book and how sad I was that it ended. It was and is a book full of historical information as well as the drama and social issues in those days. It came alive for me.

Rating:
Summary: Sumptuous and engrossing history
Review: One of the best historical novels -- romance or otherwise -- of all time. KATHERINE opens a door into the past and introduces us to people separated from us by seven centuries who nevertheless are brought to life by Anya Seton until they are as vivid as our next-door neighbor. Like so many of the other reviewers, I first read Katherine's story as a teenager; then I sympathized solely with her; as I grew older, and re-re-re-read the book, I have found myself appreciating the other people -- such as poor Hugh Swynford! -- far more. This book is one of the half-dozen I always recommend whenever a reader asks for a good historical novel. And it's amazing -- and informative -- to count up the number of VIP's descended from the glorious Katherine and the haunted John of Gaunt.