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Katherine: The classic historical romance

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She meets a young man named Rumon around the same time that her mother dies, who then takes her, at her mothers dying wishes, away from Cornwall and to the court of King Edgar I.

Katherine by Anya Seton Download - OceanofPDF [PDF] [EPUB] Katherine by Anya Seton Download - OceanofPDF

Perhaps there might not be included in his epitaph the one tribute to his knighthood that he knew he deserved: 'Il fut toujours bon et loyal chevalier.' (loosely translated: he was always a good and loyal knight)John, Duke of Lancaster son of King Edward III is married to Blanche and notices how beautiful Katherine is. Blanche and Katherine become friends. The first half of the book is dedicated to describing the romantic love that develops in a tortuous way between the two protagonists. Katherine is initially married off against her wish to a brutish husband, whose faults include poverty that results from mismanagement of his estates. Then Prince Charming, who is happily married to a charming and kind princess, comes along and delivers the poor girl from despair. Then the lovers find ways to carry on with their illicit love affair, always plagued by guilt towards their respective spouses. I find this portion too drawn out with too many happy coincidences, that is, too much of a Cinderella type of story. The bits about John’s childhood bête noire and his squire’s murder of Katherine’s husband are contrived.

Katherine - Anya Seton - Google Books

I love this time period. I realized that it is the same of that from "A Knight's Tale," and reading about Chaucer and other historical figures made this book all the better. It has also made me seriously regret not taking Euro History. First published in 1954 through the ‘Houghton Mifflin’ publishing imprint once more, this would be another historical romance from Anya Seton. Ranked number 95 in the Britain’s best-loved novels during a nationwide poll there, it’s fast become a hugely admired classic that has stood the test of time. Continually in print since its release, there has also been an audio reading of it, with Wanda McCaddon narrating the story. It’s a well told story and has all the hallmarks of a great classic romance that fully resonates with the reader, making it timeless throughout the ages. I just want to say “wow” to describe this book. So many emotions have been stirred up with this great work. Seton takes her research too far. She describes the setting in too much detail, spending too much time describing minute details that are irrelevant to the story, and it gets to the point where it becomes too much. Cut this stuff out and the novel would be a lot more succinct and to the point. As it is it rather meanders. I say the narrative treats women this way, but this is also true of the way the narrative treats men who aren’t Gaunt. Many are just there to remind us that Katherine is an object of beauty and lust. The others are all pretty terrible. Her first husband is an abusive, possessive rapist while Edward III is a feeble old man, utterly mindless and easy prey for his evil mistress and Richard II, as mentioned above, is given a thoroughly unmanly treatment that reeks of homophobia (his sexuality is never stated, but is implied - this is a clear case of a queer-coded villain). And while Gaunt’s son, Henry, is given positive attributes but the text pointedly insists that he’ll never live up to his father.Such a novel is Anya Seton’s Katherine, often regarded as her finest book. It is set in the distant past of the (14th England, and Seton’s love of England and the English countryside is a powerful ingredient in this deeply felt book. It tells the story of Katherine – a convent-bred girl, who develops an inner strength in her arranged marriage to a boorish country squire, and who finds a deep and passionate love in her relationship with John, Duke of Lancaster, better known as John of Gaunt. The characters are vividly imagined and described, the detail of mediaeval England from the dirty streets to the excitement of feast days to the glamour of the royal palaces is splendidly evoked. Seton has an absolute command of her picture of England in the middle of the (14th and she describes it with confident flair.

Katherine by Anya Seton - Philippa Gregory Katherine by Anya Seton - Philippa Gregory

But whatever the shadowed years might bring, as long as life should last, he knew that he had here at his side one sure recompense and one abiding loyalty. Merewyn and Rumon, both orphans of royal descent, are on their way to the court of King Edgar. Merewyn plans to live with her aunt, Abbess of Romsey. Rumon hopes to be given a place at court. So the wiles of plot are nullified. There's no reason to wonder how everything will turn out when Wikipedia exists. I also appreciate that Seton apparently went to a lot of effort to research this period of history thoroughly. There are some inaccuracies I noted, but this was written over fifty years ago and what was ‘known’ has no doubt changed dramatically. Having said that, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t go into some detail about this. It turns out that I've read this book before. It did look a bit familiar. I didn't remember what happened in the end. I only remembered a couple parts of the story.The book is rich in descriptive detail – of food, clothing, furnishings, daily life – and has an interesting cast of secondary characters such as Geoffrey Chaucer. I also liked the way the closing scenes of the book contrast Katherine’s view of her newly elevated position with her first impressions of the Plantagenet court as a young girl. My Review: Whoo baby! And we thought our generation invented sex, lust, and lechery! Our mamas read this paean to the ripped bodice and flung codpiece with, I feel morally certain, cool detachment and a keen analytical eye for its prosody. Because our mamas didn't *ever* think about s-e-x or l-u-s-t, now did they, because that would be ewww. Katherine says, "The poll tax is hard on folk, no doubt, but wars must be paid for, Hawsie. Why must they show so much hatred?" In 1904, Seton was born in Manhattan to English-born naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton and American travel writer Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson. [2] [3] She grew up in Cos Cob, Connecticut, in a wealthy family. [2] [4] Katherine. I really admired her resilience. When we first meet her she's a naive, wide eyed young girl with dreams and ambitions and very little idea of the world. Over time, her shine wears off but her character grows and we get to grow along with her. She suffered a lot through her time with Hugh, but she bore the burden graciously and I loved, loved, loved that she carried herself with integrity throughout her marriage. And she was funny! I didn't expect a 14th century real life person to be funny, but she was a quirky little thing.

Anya Seton - Book Series In Order Anya Seton - Book Series In Order

I shall not always be gentle, Katrine,” he said looking up into her face. “But by the soul of my mother, I shall love you until I die.” a b c d e f g Moser, Margaret (29 September 2006). "Love in the Time of 'Green Darkness' ". Austin Chronicle . Retrieved 8 July 2013. Well ha ha ha on us. This story of lusty Katherine the Flemish wench, sister-in-law of Chaucer and lover of a Royal Duke, wife of a stunningly boring man who just ups and dies (most handily) one day, and mother of something like six or seven kids (now doesn't that make your baby-maker sore just thinkin' about it?) was about as close to one-handed reading for girls as things got in 1954. Katherine tells the true story of Katherine de Roet, born the daughter of a minor Flemish herald, later knight. Katherine has no obvious prospects, except that her sister is a waiting-woman to Queen Philippa, wife of King EdwardIII, and betrothed to (later the wife of) Geoffrey Chaucer, then a minor court official. By virtue of this connection, Katherine meets and marries Sir Hugh Swynford of Lincolnshire and gives birth to a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Blanchette. Pseudo-medieval dialogue. The text is peppered with the likes of “Nay, sweeting” and “Ay, lovedy” and “What ho, my lord”. This doesn’t feel medieval, it feels like the 1950s trying way too hard to masquerade as medieval. It’s painful.Well-written historical romance set in the tenth century. Melds what we then knew about both England and the Vikings. Excellent inner voice with historically appropriate attitudes. Better-than-average rendering of dialects.

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