Katherine: by Anya Seton

[bibliogramma]

I can't remember when I first read Anya Seton's Katherine - a wonderfully rich and detailed historical novel about John of Gaunt's mistress, later wife, Katherine de Roet Swynford. It's been called Seton's masterpiece, and I dare say that's true (though I personally have a soft spot for Green Mansions, the first book of Seton's that I remember reading). It was in my early teens I think, for I was already well acquainted with the works of Katherine Swynford's brother-in-law, Geoffry Chaucer, when I read it, and my fascination with Chaucer began somewhere around the seventh Grade in school. I must admit, I first picked it up because of the Chaucer connection, but I read it avidly, cover to cover, because of the spell that Seton's portrait of Katherine cast over me.

As in Alison Weir's biographical sketches of the wives of Henry VIII (who was, of course, descended from Katherine through the "Beaufort bastards," the four children she bore to John, Duke of Lancaster), this is a picture of a woman who was, as much as was possible, a strong woman in her own right, limited in scope by the times she lived in, but enduring and achieving much within the sphere allowed her.

Recently, I've been going back and re-reading some of the historical novels that profoundly moved me when I was younger, and this was certainly one of them. I'm very happy to have read it again.

Comments

[xochiquetzl]

I was apparently named after that novel.

[bibliogramma.livejournal.com]

Interesting. It was, I think, a lot better known a number of years ago than it is now, Have you ever read it?

I've had a crush, is that's the right word, on Katherine Swynford ever since I read this book. Alison Weir has written a biography of her, which I intend to devour as soon as possible.

[xochiquetzl]

Nope. I just know that my mother read that book when she was pregnant with me, and that's why I ended up named after Katherine Swynford. I probably should; it almost feels like never having met my grandmother or something. :)