The Good Wife of Bath
Ratings3
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings3
Average rating3.7
A provocative, immersive medieval novel starring one of literature's most unforgettable characters in her own words--Chaucer's bold and libidinous Wife of Bath. "So damned readable and fun...This is the story of a woman fighting for her rights; it breaches the walls of history."--The Australian In the middle ages, a famous poet told a story that mocked a strong woman. It became a literary classic. But what if the woman in question had a chance to tell her own version? England, 1364: When married off at aged twelve to an elderly farmer, brazen redheaded Eleanor quickly realizes it won't matter what she says or does, God is not on her side--or any poor woman's for that matter. But then again, Eleanor was born under the joint signs of Venus and Mars, making her both a lover and a fighter. Aided by a head for business (and a surprisingly kind husband), Eleanor manages to turn her first marriage into success, and she rises through society from a cast-off farm girl to a woman of fortune who becomes a trusted friend of the social-climbing poet Geoffrey Chaucer. But more marriages follow--some happy, some not--several pilgrimages, many lovers, murder, mayhem, and many turns of fortune's wheel as Eleanor pursues the one thing that all women want: control of their own lives.
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Needs serious time commitment, but extremely worth it. Brooks gives a wonderful flavour of the period particularly how women worked and lived. It's obvious that she did a great deal of research and that this was a labour of love.
The character of The Wife of Bath is really fleshed out with all her flaws, as is Chaucer himself. Eleanor has a busy life veering from fortune to being down on her luck but mostly handling it with grace and fortitude, and sometimes escaping for pilgrimages. She is surrounded by a cast of vividly drawn characters including her husbands, the ever loyal Alyson, servants and people she picks up along the way and brings into her household, mostly due to them being down on their luck. I loved the depiction of her unusual family dynamics and the moral dilemmas that they sometimes cause her. If I had one criticism it would be that I wasn't a fan of Eleanor foreshadowing things so frequently, but that was a matter of personal taste which didn't particularly spoil an excellently written entertaining book.
