Katherine

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely magnificent
Review: "Katherine" is Anya Seton's finest book, which is high praise considering her talent. She is a very fine writer with excellent attention to detail and historical accuracy, as well the ability to make the characters come vividly alive.

This is of course a very fine and entertaining story. There is our heroine Katherine, with all of her trials and tribulations, and who finds herself unexpectedly thrust into a turbulent life with a turbulent royal family! It is interesting to note that through the children she had with John of Gaunt, she is a direct ancestress of all of ruling Kings and Queens of England from that time on (and a great many members of European royal families as well)! Katherine made her mark on history in many, many ways.

This is an utterly charming and beautiful book. I was about 12 when I first picked it up and was immediately enchanted by the writing, the adventure and the history, and return to it time and time again. The book is peppered with other interesting historical characters - for example Geoffrey Chaucer was married to Katherine's sister, and appears from time to time full of wit and stories.

So read it for yourself, and introduce it to a young lady in your life. You could not bestow a finer gift.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely magnificent
Review: "Katherine" is Anya Seton's finest book, which is high praise considering her talent. She is a very fine writer with excellent attention to detail and historical accuracy, as well the ability to make the characters come vividly alive.

This is of course a very fine and entertaining story. There is our heroine Katherine, with all of her trials and tribulations, and who finds herself unexpectedly thrust into a turbulent life with a turbulent royal family! It is interesting to note that through the children she had with John of Gaunt, she is a direct ancestress of all of ruling Kings and Queens of England from that time on (and a great many members of European royal families as well)! Katherine made her mark on history in many, many ways.

This is an utterly charming and beautiful book. I was about 12 when I first picked it up and was immediately enchanted by the writing, the adventure and the history, and return to it time and time again. The book is peppered with other interesting historical characters - for example Geoffrey Chaucer was married to Katherine's sister, and appears from time to time full of wit and stories.

So read it for yourself, and introduce it to a young lady in your life. You could not bestow a finer gift.

Rating:
Summary: This is a great book
Review: Anya Seton takes you back into the world of 14th century England and makes it come to life. Not only is the book entertaining, but it has quite a bit of accurate historical information. It helped me out in some of my history classes, because it enabled me to imagine what John, Duke of Lancaster & his son Henry Bolingbroke (King Henry IV), were like. Seton brings her characters, both real & fictional, to life, she makes you really care what happens to them. The story of Katherine Swynford is one about a love that withstands marriage, children, murder & death. It also tells of how the people, both rich & poor were effected by war, political alliances & the plague. Yes, this is a rather long book, but it is well worth the read & has something in it for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful
Review: Anya Seton wrote a wonderful, lushly romantic book. Katherine is the story of Katherine Swynford the mistress of John of Gaunt. Their romance was remarkable in that it lasted until his death. In spite of all practical concerns after years of waiting John and Katherine shocked the world by marrying.
Anya Seton takes you right into Katherine's world and you fall in love with John just as she does.

Another great thing Seton does is the way she handles Sir Hugh's character. It would have been easy to make him a cardboard villain but she doesn't. Crude, ugly and not much more sophisticated than the lowliest serf Hugh becomes a sympathetic figure becasue Seton clearly shows that he loves his wife but it too proud and too afraid to show it.

Now, is this the true story? Was Katherine really as great a heroine as she's presented in this book? Well, as the saying goes if this isn't the true sotry it ought to be. I loved this book as a teen and it's still a favorite. I'm so happy that this new edition has been published.

Rating:
Summary: Allure of Katherine
Review: Anya Seton's Katherine is a fantastic, mamouth piece of literature. Seton writes of a love that spans the ages and the reader can still feel the illicit quality alive today. The book I bought was not the one I thought I was purchasing (it was a older version, overpriced and lacking the forward by Phillipa Gregory) but still- the book outwieghed the missing forward by one of my favorite authors. I would seriously recommend this book for anyone who can sit through English politics in detail of the 1300's.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to a forgotten masterpiece!
Review: Echoing the only other review of this book so far,it is absolutely one of the best books I have ever read. Anya Seton transports you back to this time period and you become so involved in the story and characters that you cannot put the book down!

I originally read it in the 1970's and I can't wait to re-read it, as my original copy is long gone. Many thanks to the publishers who are re-issuing this wonderful book. If you like Philippa Gregory's writing, you will love this book.

Rating:
Summary: Actually 3 and a half stars
Review: First off, let me just say that I was inclined to like this book from the start, simply because I love this story, and have always had such a connection with the John of Gaunt/Katherine Swynford romance.

That said, was the book worth it? Certainly. Was it as good as I'd hoped it would be? No.

While the book was obviously well researched, and historically accurate, the characters were just not as gripping as I had imagined they would be. I imagine if Margaret George of Philippa Gregory had written a book on this topic, it would have been much more enjoyable. I think that a more engaging story was sacrficed for the sake of including tons of historical detail. Which is fine, of course, but I prefer books like "The Other Boleyn Girl", which sacrifices some cold hard facts for the sake of drama.

Anyway, all that aside, it is hard to go wrong with a story like this.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I Have Ever Read
Review: I am so glad this book is now more readily available. It is my FAVORITE READ OF ALL TIME. It is a love story of epic proportions unlike anything I've ever read or experienced. This is truly a real-life fairytale.

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.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant !
Review: I didn't realize, when I purchased this used book, that it had been written so long ago.It reads as seemlessly, as if it had been written yesterday.

I have a fascination with the Plantagenet dynasty, and this was a fresh peek at an unlikely Plantagenet heroine.

If you have enjoyed Sharon Kay Penman's books, then "Katherine" will entrance you !

Rating:
Summary: my wife loved it
Review: I got this book for my wife who enjoys historical fiction.

She loved it. She says that it is leagues above stuff written today. She is anxious for more books by the author to be reprinted.