A review by sheryls
Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster by Alison Weir

2.0

I read this non-fiction book in order to learn a little about Katherine Swynford before reading Anya Seton's novel "Katherine". The good thing is I can use it as a reference when I do read the novel. However, it was a struggle for me to finish this as I found the writing dry and filled with details about many other characters other than Katherine. This was apparently done because there is not much information known about Katherine herself apart from her relationship with John of Gaunt but I think this should have been much shorter and excluded some of the more extraneous characters. There was also page upon page of descriptions of floorplans in the various royal residences as well as descriptions of genealogies both tall and wide, both of which I frequently skimmed.