The good wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

The Good Wife of Bath is an absolute delight. Karen Brooks has created a riveting and highly entertaining feminist reimagining of the story of Alyson, from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. ‘The Wife of Bath’s Tale’ is one of the most famous of Chaucer’s stories, highlighting and at times critiquing the misogyny present in medieval English society. In The Good Wife of Bath we meet Eleanor, later known as Alyson, who has just been married off at the age of twelve to an elderly farmer with a reputation for killing wives and driving off servants. The deal was brokered by her distant cousin ‘The Poet’ (Geoffrey Chaucer) against her will, after she was found in a compromising position with a member of the clergy. Eleanor’s situation is not helped by the filthy living conditions she finds herself enduring or the animosity from her new husband’s daughter.

However, what follows is an enjoyable tale of Eleanor’s growing maturity, understanding and agency. Over an extremely eventful life we witness her triumphs and failures, as she takes husbands and lovers, survives difficult times, creates successful businesses, and goes on the pilgrimages made so famous by The Canterbury Tales. The Good Wife of Bath is not always an easy read, the time period alone ensures that Eleanor is a regular victim of violence, injustice and hardship common to women of the era. However, her strong willpower, intelligence and resilience result in a mostly triumphant story. Eleanor is an extremely likeable and well-developed character and it is easy to cheer her on as the novel unfolds. The Good Wife of Bath also presents a positive representation of female friendship and sisterhood and the insertion of Chaucer into the story as a character in his own right is extremely clever. Brooks has created a brilliant and entertaining piece of historical fiction.

Themes: Historical, Medieval, Middle Ages, Women, Wives, Marriage, Sexuality, Friendship, Feminism.

Rose Tabeni