I borrowed this book from Mare-Bear and what a fabulous book it was! This is historical fiction at it’s finest, and even though this book was written in the 1950s it still had resonance and kept me enthralled with every turn of the page.
This is the story of John of Gaunt (Duke of Lancaster) and his mistress Lady Katherine Swynford, considered the principal ancestors of the royal British family. The book was set in the 14th Century and follows John and Katherine through their initial meeting to their final deaths. Along the way they author vividly outlines major 14C. happenings such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Black Death, as well as religious fervor, the attempt by serfs to gain freedom and the vicious Plantagenet rulers preoccupied with their own selfishness and cruelty over the people they governed.
As I said, it is historical fiction at it’s finest – the story was fantastic, but the details were magnificent. This is not a short book, and yet I raced through it and was sad when it came to an end.