Karen Brooks has created another masterpiece in this unputdownable, fascinating, historical, bawdy, shockingly accurate retelling of an era about which we know so little. The characters were all believable and described so I felt like I knew them personally, fortunately many of them I don’t know and wouldn’t want to know. Elanore is a girl and woman ahead of her time by many centuries and the love and admiration she receives from her ‘family’ is well deserved and hard earned. I loved every word, paragraph and page in this book and her detail to the language and expressions of the 1300’s is enlightening, to say the least. I can highly recommend this book which I received as an Advance Readers Copy ebook from NetGalley. I will be buying the hard copy when it is available to display with my other Karen Brooks novels.

I love the idea of providing a new perspective on a long-maligned female character; giving her her own voice and a chance to state her case, and I was keen to read this book. I'm pleased to say that it is well written, with the narrator's voice coming through clearly and her wry observations over the foibles of men generally being on point.

Unfortunately, I did find the overall tone and progress of this particular tale a bit too dark for my tastes. Eleanor's struggles for respect and a voice of her own are brave and consistent, but often doomed. True to the era that might be, but I don't generally read fiction in order to feel angry and frustrated by injustice (the real world gives me plenty of opportunity for that already).

Karen Brooks The Good Wife of Bath: A (Mostly) True Story, HQ Fiction, Australia, 2021.

Thank you to NetGalley for this uncorrected proof copy for review.

Karen Brooks says that she found Chaucer’s Wife irresistible, and this shines through the novel she has written from the Good Wife of Bath’s perspective. Like Chaucer’s depiction of The Wife she has five husbands, travels on pilgrimages and is ‘feisty, vain, boastful, witty, middle aged’. Unlike the Chaucer version, Brooks lets The Wife, Eleanor/Alyson, tell her story. Perhaps ironically, but authentically, Chaucer is a secondary character, propelling Eleanor into her first marriage, and remaining a recurrent friend throughout her turbulent marriages and eventual profession.

Brooks’ notes on the story of a twelve-year-old forced into marriage to a much older man provide an explanation for the early storyline, her misgivings about this feature of the novel, and an explanation that I found satisfactory. Such attention to legitimate concerns provides a worthwhile discussion opening to the issues raised by this episode. A positive aspect of this early relationship is the enduring friendship between the two young women who meet through the first marriage – Eleanor and Alyson. Their story is the real love story, despite an early enmity, Eleanor’s four more marriages, disagreements, and different attitudes towards their continuing partnership.

The story is told with verve and humour. In particular, the letters The Wife of Bath dictates before she learns to write are a source of great comedy. She uses earthy language with joy, relishing the embarrassment she causes her scribe, and provides the reader with a host of descriptions and words that lend authenticity to the life unfurling in the narrative.

At the same time as The Wife’s personal life is laid out, the way in which all women were devalued because of their sex is illustrated through her experiences. Professions were tightly circumscribed, benefitting men and diminishing women’s creativity and ability. The Wife is an excellent businesswoman but upon marriage must suffer her husbands’ control over her future. As a single woman her creativity and business acumen demonstrated through weaving and the commercial enterprise she establishes are still dependent on men. Their rules and her ability to deal with the hand she is dealt leads her to her final profession.
Brooks’ explanation of her attitude toward the difficult issues raised, is part of a longer explanation about the narrative, there is a detailed account of material she has read as part of preparation for the writing, and a thorough glossary.

I really enjoyed reading this version of Chaucer’s story. What a lively experience Brooks makes of one of the tales I churned though in high school many years ago. Together with Brooks’ depiction of Chaucer and the witty and beguiling narrative I almost feel compelled to give Chaucer’s Tales another read to fully enjoy the impetus for the storyline as well as Brooks’ version. Thank you, Karen Brooks.

I love Chaucer and I love feminist critique of classic works. The author should be congratulated for respectfully drawing attention to the possible reality behind a classic tale. Fascinating and sometimes funny, this book defies genres.