The Good Wife of Bath

Publisher details

Author
Karen Brooks
Publisher
HQ Fiction
Genre
Fiction
Released
01 February, 2023
ISBN
9781867256021

The Good Wife of Bath

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Synopsis

In the middle ages, a 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? Who would you believe?

England, The Year of Our Lord, 1364

When married off aged 12 to an elderly farmer, Eleanor Cornfed, who's constantly told to seek redemption for her many sins, quickly realises it won't matter what she says or does, God is not on her side - or any poor woman's for that matter.

But Eleanor was born under the joint signs of Venus and Mars. Both a lover and a fighter, she will not bow meekly to fate. Even if five marriages, several pilgrimages, many lovers, violence, mayhem and wildly divergent fortunes (that swoop up and down as if spinning on Fortuna's Wheel itself) do not for a peaceful life make.

Aided and abetted by her trusty god-sibling Alyson, the counsel of one Geoffrey Chaucer, and a good head for business, Eleanor fights to protect those she loves from the vagaries of life, the character deficits of her many husbands, the brutalities of medieval England and her own fatal flaw... a lusty appreciation of mankind. All while continuing to pursue the one thing all women want - control of their own lives.

This funny, picaresque, clever retelling of Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath' from The Canterbury Tales is a cutting assessment of what happens when male power is left to run unchecked, as well as a recasting of a literary classic that gives a maligned character her own voice, and allows her to tell her own (mostly) true story.

Reviews

A Wild and Witty Retelling: Read Our Review of The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

Review | Our Review

15 December 2021

A Wild and Witty Retelling: Read Our Review of The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

    A Clever and Funny Reimagining: Read an Extract from The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

    Review | Extract

    12 July 2021

    A Clever and Funny Reimagining: Read an Extract from The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

      Your Preview Verdict: The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

      Review | Preview

      5 July 2021

      Your Preview Verdict: The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

        Karen Brooks
        About the author

        Karen Brooks

        Karen Brooks is the author of fourteen books - historical fiction, historical fantasy, YA fantasy, and one non-fiction. She was an academic for over 20 years, a newspaper columnist and social commentator. She has a Ph.D. in English/Cultural Studies and has published internationally on all things popular culture, education and social psychology. An award-winning teacher, she's taught throughout Australia and in The Netherlands and keynoted at many education conferences. Nowadays, she finds greatest contentment studying history and writing, and helping her husband in his Brewstillery, Captain Bligh's.She shares a beautiful stone house in Hobart, Tasmania, built in 1868, with her husband, adorable dogs and cats, and shelves brimming with books.

        Books by Karen Brooks

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