Katherine Swynford cover art

Katherine Swynford

The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess

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Katherine Swynford

By: Alison Weir
Narrated by: Judith Boyd
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About this listen

 In this remarkable book, Alison Weir recounts one of the greatest and most remarkable love stories of medieval England. It is the extraordinary tale of an exceptional woman, Katherine Swynford, who became first the mistress, and later the wife, of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

But Katherine Swynford was much more than that. She was the mother of the Beauforts, and through them the ancestress of the Yorkist Kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts and every other sovereign since - a prodigious legacy which has shaped the history of Britain.

©2007 Alison Weir (P)2007 WF Howes Ltd Europe Great Britain England Royalty Tudor Middle Ages

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Critic reviews

"Weir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as it does the mind." ( The Independent)
"Alison Weir's hugely popular history books are as gripping as novels." ( The Times, London)
"Alison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians." ( The Daily Mail)
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What a fabulous story. The history of our monarchy which all spawned from this amazing woman. I loved listening to this book. I confess I had found "reading" the book too tedious. All those dates and tooing and froing, pretty hard to grasp, but listening to the story .... well I now have it all in my head ( and my heart).

Well read by Judith Boyd and well done Audible.

The Amazing Katherine Swynford

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As usual, Alison Weir’s point of view is well-researched, critical and fascinating to read. Having just reread Anya Seton’s Katherine for the first time since I was 14 - and adored romantic novels — Weir’s carefully researched biography is impressive. Her use of ‘may’ and ‘might’ allude to the struggle all biographers encounter: acknowledging what we have not been able to find: the silences of history. Yet, both versions of Katherine make marvellous reading: Seton’s seamless invention, where the facts prove recalcitrant, and Weir’s painstaking archival detail, right up to the point (after 1400), when Katherine mostly disappears from the records,

Katherine Swynford, by Alison Weir

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I loved this account of Katherine Swynford. I also read Katherine, by Anya Seaton, but along time ago and didn’t at that time read anymore about her, but recently have become interested in her again. This book has inspired me.,

Beautiful account of Katherine Swynford

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I enjoyed the book for most parts but feel that the title is misleading as it focusses on John of Gaunt rather than Katherine Swynford - understandably so as there remains so little evidence of her actual life. However, I feel this should be reflected in the book's title.
The speaker should not attempt different accents as it annoys abd distracts and I also found the spelling of names and equations to today's money values very distracting.

Very interesting but title should focus on John of

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Truly wonderful depiction of Katherine and John of Gaunt. A good balance of fact and a little fiction due to the difficulty of there being so few facts left from the 14th century and Katherine being a woman! Alison Weir has written an excellent account of how all their lives intertwined and Judith Boyd did an excellent job as the narrator.
Thank you from Sharon

Wonderfully enjoyable

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More like a documentary than a novel. Still very good.
Alison Weir has obviously done her research on this one.
I hope Alison continues to write for many years.

Very good detail

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I first read this book over 40ys ago and decided to have the luxury of having it read to me this time. I missed so much 1st time round, this time I realised that this wasn't just the story of a great love but a social history of its time. It has fired my imagination and interest and I now want to revisit this whole period of history. I just love a book that leads you to more.

As good as the 1st time

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The narration was irritating- as someone else commented, the tone is that of someone reading to a child. She also puts on ridiculous accents when referring to comments made my non native English speakers.

Focussed very heavily on John of gaunt- far more than Katherine.

I don’t like the structure, it isn’t tight and wanders off all over the place with random information about John of gaunt, with no bearing to Katherine.

I’m on chapter 3 but struggling… I don’t think I’ll make it to the end.

If interested in John of gaunt, I thought Helen carr’s book was much easier to follow.

Disappointed

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Not your average silly historical romp, but a serious work of scholarship, packed with facts and well supported argument. Not as gripping as her earlier 'Isabella', but a thorough study of the life of an influential woman in the reign of Richard II.

Rich and satisfying

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I had had this book in my wishlist for simply ages and eventually got round to buying it. It was an interesting book, but there was so much conjecture it can hardly be called a history. "May have been", "Perhaps", "Maybe", "We can infer", "Probably", "Must have been", "Suggests", "Surely", "Doubtless", "It is tempting to speculate", "Would have been", "Presumably", "It would appear", "Possibly" and goodness knows how many others. Judith Boyd, several of whose narrations I have listened to before and enjoyed, also got on my nerves with this this one, particularly with her somewhat contrived reading of text which was obviously in quotes. By about two-thirds of the way through, I was perpetually rolling my eyes and huffing. All-in-all, a bit of a let-down.

History or Speculation?

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