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| Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess | 
 enlarge | Author: Alison Weir
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £3.76
You Save: £5.23 (58%)
New (26) from £3.76
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 1419
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5.1 x 1
ISBN: 0712641971
EAN: 9780712641975
ASIN: 0712641971
Publication Date: August 7, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 if the information isnt there don't write it November 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having read most of Alison Weir's historical works [which i would give 5 stars to] I have to say that this one is a real miss. Her writing style, usually so fluid, just did not flow for me in this book; she is severely hampered by the lack of accurate historical information available on her subject and i found the endless supposition made for a very trying read.
Absorbing as ever but difficult to get a real feel for the main subject November 9, 2008
Absorbing and well researched as ever, but, due to the paucity of available information on its subject, this reads in many places more like a biography of John of Gaunt, as suggested by the book's subtitle. It does give a good feel for 14th century and life and mores, though. Annoyingly, the details/dates in the family trees at the back sometimes contradict the main text.
Fascinating story stitched together from very little cloth September 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Although Weir has written historical biographies of women who were intrinsically interesting -- Eleanor of Acquitaine and Isabella (the She Wolf) of France -- I have always found them a little dry. It's surprisingly, then, that her most lively and readable book so far should be about a woman about whom so little is known.
We can conjecture who Katherine de Roet's father was but the identity of her mother remains unknown; we cannot be sure how many children she bore, assuming that some died young, as was almost inevitable; Weir makes silly statements such as 'Katherine may well have been there that day but there is no evidence of it' a little too often.
Even so, the character of Katherine shines through, the first royal mistress ever to achieve the status of wife, ancestor of every English monarch since 1461, loving the larger-than-life John of Gaunt.
Weir mischievously quotes the late Queen Mother as saying that men of status do not marry their mistresses.
I suspect that most British people would say 'Katherine Who?' I'm delighted that Weir has introduced Katherine back into history, where she belongs and whence some of her descendants, a little ashamed of her humble birth, tried to expunge her.
 interesting September 8, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Yes, I have read the Anya Seton book, over and over again, it was and is a great favourite of mine, so I thought I would get the definitive biography of the lady and her Duke. I was not daft enough to expect an enormous amount of facts, too much time had passed for many records to still be in existance, plus the fact that when the Savoy was burnt down in the Peasants revolt,I would imagine that many more records were lost. Katherine came over as a very interesting, beautiful and educated lady, very far indeed from being a dumb blonde.
I salute Ms Weir on writing a very erudite book, with very little facts to go on and keeping one's interest right up until the last page.
Highly recommended.
 Misleading title August 11, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was disappointed. Katherine Swynford is barely a ghost in this book. On the other hand we learn an enormous amount about the cast of hundreds who knew or were related or even contemporary with her. The book jumps around a great deal as well, filling in history about people I had no interest in and drifting away from what was supposed to be the main theme. That was confusing. As there were no facts to hang Katherine's character or life experience on, this was a dry and very lifeless read. It did follow John of Gaunt's life closely although he never came to real life between the pages either, which would be my most serious criticism. There's also a lot about Geoffrey Chaucer but I didn't buy the book to find out about him!
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