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Always the direction of the story seems to emerge from the characters themselves and their decisions; such is the ability of a gifted writer.The only drawback that I could find in this book, and the reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5, is that at times the pace drags. There are several reasons why this book has endured and is still so well-loved by so many.First, in Katherine Anya Seton completely immerses the reader in 14th century England. There were several places where I found myself thumbing ahead (although I would always go back to where I was and keep reading until it got more interesting).If you like modern-style romances with their graphic and titillating love scenes, then you won't like Katherine or any other older romance book for that matter. This is an era that, 600 years later, we tend to view through a soft-focus lens, remembering it as a romantic and chivalric period of castles, knights, courtly manners and beautiful and elaborate clothing. Seton vividly portrays her characters and develops their personalities and motivations in ways that are completely credible to the reader. It was a world so drastically different from what we know that we are still fascinated by it.Secondly, Katherine is a successful book because it is so full and satisfying; it is like eating a seven-course meal. Therefore, the majority of this 500-page book (and very small print at that) is the result of Seton's own vivid and gifted imagination.
When you are finished you feel that it is complete and nothing has been left out. And yet this time period is still compelling with its tournaments, courtly intrigue, and social structure so different from our own. Anya Seton found her niche in the writing world by focusing on real women who had actually lived, but who were (with the exception of Katherine Swynford) minor players never on the center stage of their society, and who had been forgotten over time by all but perhaps a few elite scholars. :) This is one I will doubtless read again someday.
Katherine is widely regarded as Anya Seton's finest book, and is still a popular classic in its genre over 50 years after it was first published. This is really less a love story about John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford than it is a life story of Katherine herself, complete with a large cast of major and minor players. The result is a story that is full, detailed and multi-textured, just as Katherine's life probably actually was. Having read all of Anya Seton's books, I can say that they are never contrived; never do you feel that she is forcing the plot to go in the direction she wishes it to. Because her subjects were heretofore unknown to her readers, Seton was able to form their personalities and motives as she pleased and make them her own.She does this in spades with Katherine. I was a little sad to see the book end, I wasn't quite ready to return to the 21st century. However, Seton's writing removes the rosy glow and depicts the late 1300s in as realistic a way as possible for a 20th century writer; she reminds us that life in a castle was cold, damp, moldy, smelly (unwashed bodies and poor sanitation), and ridden with sickness, lice and fleas. This is an old-style romance (which is the best kind in my opinion) where the intimacy is only alluded to.
She would take such characters, what few facts about them she could discover in her research, and, using her own fertile imagination, recreate their lives. As she says in her Author's Note at the beginning of the book, few documented facts exist about Katherine Swynford's life. But if you want to be transported back to the 14th century and read about a real-life woman who was fascinating in her ability to capture and hold the love of the wealthiest and most powerful man in England at the time, then this is it. Enjoy.
I already had an older copy of this book which I had read so many times over the years that the pages were coming loose. While I understand that it is fiction, I still appreciate the beautiful, if illicit, love between a powerful noble and a commoner in a time when marriage between two such people was unheard of.
Thus, this is a relatively old work as things go these days. In those days, though, marriage was often a business and she got a pretty good deal. Does it work. And then, John of Gaunt, third son of the King, entered her life. A major challenge facing the author, Anya Seton, is that rather little is known of Katherine Swynford. As she says (Page x): "Of her, little is known, except when her life touched the Duke and there are few details of that." She notes that although this is fiction, she has tried to ground it in authentic history of the time. The original copyright on this book is dated 1954. The story outlines her rather brief life with Swynford, birth of two of her children, and her effort to run the estate.
There follows the tale of rebellion, the loss of Katherine's daughter by her husband, her flight from John out of a sense of having violated morality.Returning to Kettlethorpe, she once more ran the estate; her children by John moved in with her.Then, an almost unbelievably happy ending (and this appears to comport with the historical record).Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. Their home, the Swynford "estate" at Kettlethorpe, was run down--hardly like the Court from which she had come. Fifty years old, with a lot of life left in this volume. Released from a nunnery to the Court of the King of England, young Katherine de Roet becomes a member of that august circle. Nonetheless, it still reads well and does not have a dated, stale sense to it. After Swynford's death in battle (with poison added in, a plot device that I did not find convincing), Katherine and John became lovers and she bore him four children during John's rather empty marriage to his second wife--Constance of Castile.
If you understand that there is little known about Katherine, this book--as well as Alison Weir's "Katherine Swynford"--is remarkable for creating a real live human being out of a few scraps of information.That said, what a story in this book, as detailed by Seton. A knight, Hugh Swynford, described in this book as a rough character, ends up marrying her--although she did not want this to be the case. She was notorious as John's mistress. A truly good read.
I started reading Anya Seton's books when I was a teenager and fell in love with her talent for historical fiction. They are always the right choice to spend some time with a good book. She is quite possibly my all time favorite author, and I do A LOT of reading. Whether she's writing about England or the US, her books never fail you. I have several of her books, older hardcover editions. Nice to know they're worth something.
I bought this book based off of the recommended list of an Amazon.com user, and I do not regret it. This book is delightful. I feel it accurately portrays the day-to-day life of the time period, as well as a wonderful interpretation of this historical love story. The trials and sorrows of Katherine provides a wonderful story you can escape in.
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