Our October selection is The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks, a novel about Chaucer’s bold and bawdy Wife of Bath, told from her perspective.
Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, is one of the most well-known characters in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, written in 1392. Was Chaucer embracing a misogynist stereotype or creating a feminist ahead of her time? Per the NY Journal of Books, the medieval tale has been “transformed into a rollicking narrative full of details of the times…the author’s diligent work sorting fact from poetry creates a fictional but believable character who lives and breathes in every word of this satisfying, page-turning novel.”
"So damned readable and fun…This is the story of a woman fighting for her rights; it breaches the walls of history.” – The Australian
Started reading the ebook before it goes back to the library and it is compelling! I even took it with me to the dentist this morning to read during the down time while my replacement crown was cooking in the oven (their words, not mine).
I haven’t started yet. I was planning to wait but I’ve made timing mistakes in the past. Should I assume that this one needs to be started earlier than say The Lincoln Highway - also long but overall quick to read?
@ignatius I like it, her British accent makes it feel more real than my imagination. I do listen to audiobooks all the time, not everyone likes them and not all books lend themselves to it.
Some times her bad choices or the foreshadowing cause me to stop for a day or two, I feel like when I was a kid watching “I Love Lucy” and had to leave the room
I started reading it yesterday. It captured my interest from the start. I’m reading and listening and want to mention that the narrator is really really good, in case anyone leans toward the audio edition. On the other hand, the print edition has a glossary and a character list denoting real people and fictional characters. I’ve already glanced at both. Ex: John of Gaunt = Prince John (real); mazer = a drinking bowl made from wood or metal.
If you finish early you can amuse yourself with more John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford with Katherine by Anya Seton. It’s one of those novels I reread when I want a big satisfying historical romance.
