Katherine

This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history-that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family. Set in the vibrant 14th century of Chaucer and the Black Death, the story features knights fighting in battle, serfs struggling in poverty, and the magnificent Plantagenets-Edward III, the Black Prince, and Richard II-who ruled despotically over a court rotten with intrigue. Within this era of danger and romance, John of Gaunt, the king's son, falls passionately in love with the already married Katherine. Their well-documented affair and love persist through decades of war, adultery, murder, loneliness, and redemption. This epic novel of conflict, cruelty, and untamable love has become a classic since its first publication in 1954.

For historical fiction lovers, this is a must read! I loved this book beginning to end. It is romantic and interesting - a true page turner.

this book as advertised should be red covered with the genenology on the inside flap but i got a green covered book with no genenology. i was very disapointed but happy to have obtained a copy of a hard back that i am not eager to complain. just thought the seller should know since they had one other for sell too.

The concept of this novel is fantastic; what a shame that it wasn't written up by someone with more skill at writing novels. This just wasn't a novel. For me, a novel must "get inside" the character's heads, there must be introspection. Anya Seton's inability to probe her characters and map out their interior realities meant for very tedious reading. In places where she should have been fleshing out the thoughts and feelings of key characters, she instead fills the story with an endlessly changing cast of minor characters, uninteresting (even distracting) descriptive details, and irrelevant dialogue that does little to explain the big "whys" behind the current political situation and her characters' actions. Frankly, the novel felt clunky and unfocused. And the love scenes were embarrassingly tacky in the setup and writing (e.g. John of Gaunt, depressed about the recent death of his wife, asks to meet with Katherine to thank her for fetching a priest for his wife before she died of the plague . . . within two pages of conversation, he is suddenly struck by how gorgeous Katherine is and starts forcing himself on her. Conveniently, there is a bed right there in the room . . . eeeeewwwww!!!! How unbelievable, what silliness.) Katherine and John of Gaunt were not believable or likeable characters and the reasons for their love eluded me; as far as I can tell from the book, the reason for their attraction was purely physical, which is very unsatisfying.

So, from the perspective of writing a good novel, this book was a failure. And, from the perspective of writing a good historical novel, it was additionally a failure. If name-dropping characters and dates counts, this book was "historical." But, a good historical novel should flesh out more of the "whys" behind those historical happenings. Instead, we get cardboard characters who act in predictable ways and many who act without any comment or interpretation from the author. I might as well have learned about what these people did by reading a wikipedia article.

So I would skip this one . . . if you are picky about good writing, you know who you are . . . this was a "fluffy" read and not worth your time. I am astonished that this book gets such excellent reviews.

I first read this book when I was 15...it has not lost any of its charm or vibrancy. I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in English history and epic novels.

I read Ken Follett's Pillars and World without End. I wanted to read more from that historic time and found Katherine. Our small book club read it and we all liked it. The historic information was great. After reading all three books, it is obvious that our society today is no worse than it was in the 12,14 or 15th century. It was interesting to follow the relationships and customs of the time.