The Happy Homemaker

They were not kidding when certain people put this books on the list as one of the best historical fiction books ever written. This is the book that inspired countless other romantic historical authors from Jean Plaidy to Philippa Gregory.

This novel doesn’t just tell the romance story between Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt. Katherine tells the story of the period of history and how it affected people from the lowest serfs to the highest nobles. Almost every class of society was represented. I cared less about the romance of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt and more about what life on a 14th century manor was like. This book was addictive, I wanted to read more. The Peasants’ Revolt was my favorite part of the book.

It was quite by accident but I have two other books that are about the second half of the 14th century. I am reading a biography of Geoffrey Chaucer, brother-in-law to Katherine Swynford, and the Decameron, a book about the Black Plague.

Katherine Swynford might be my ancestress through her first husband Hugh Swynford, but this is not 100%. Even if she is not, the story was so well told, I feel like I read the story about my ancestors who were not so famous and made their struggles of the late 14th century come to life.

I think the 14th century is important to study as is the 6th for these were times of great changes. (Fall of the Roman Empire, Crumbling of Feudalism and the Church, and now we live after the end of the British Empire and Western European Empires) I believe that we are living in a time of great changes and challenges.