Notwithstanding its factual errors, Katherine is beautifully written, and remains my favourite historical novel. Most of this is pure fiction, but so well-told that it reads convincingly and reflects the breadth of Seton’s research. However, John returns to England and claims her for his wife. Later, one of the Suttons, a prominent Lincoln family, proposes marriage to her. After John’s renunciation of Katherine, Seton has her visiting the mystic anchoress (a type of religious recluse), Julian of Norwich, and in time achieving peace of mind. Their romance has been simmering ever since she first came to court. This murder paves the way for Katherine to become John of Gaunt’s mistress. They have two, not four, children, and Sir Hugh – for whose loutish character there is, again, no evidence – is murdered, a fictional assertion that is still accepted as fact by some, so great is Seton’s reputation for veracity. Thus we have Katherine growing up in a convent (for which there is no evidence) and marrying Sir Hugh Swynford in 1367, five years later than she probably did in real life. Moreover, a great deal of research has been done since it was written. Seton spent four years researching the novel, and made worthy efforts to achieve historical accuracy, but hers is essentially a romantic portrayal, which reflects the values of her time and tells us perhaps as much about Anya Seton as it does about Katherine Swynford. First published in 1954, when it was branded as “obscene and evil” by critics, it has never been out of print, and made the top hundred favourite books in the BBC’s The Big Read in 2003. Katherine Swynford is the subject of Katherine, by American author Anya Seton, one of the most enduringly popular novels of the 20th century. The romantic novel that blurs Katherine's fact and fiction
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