My Book Reviews

Lovely book
March 10, 2022, 4:29 p.m.A review for 'A Woman of Noble Wit', by Sarah Smith
Having a traced our family tree back to the Champerknownes l picked up this book with great interest. Living in Paignton and regularly visiting Dartington as well as Compton and Greenaway gave added interest. What a gem of a book for someone interested in history. A lovely story about a strong woman and family and I couldn't put it down. My only bugbear was with the printing. All the text written in darker text was joined together which made reading it very difficult. Who allowed …

Katherine-Kate Raleigh née Champernowne was the mother of Sir Walter Raleigh and wife to Walter Raleigh senior. She was also the sister of Elizabeth’s governess Kat Champernowne.

A Woman of Noble Wit is her story, set in Devon. Katherine lived through four monarchs and saw her son rise to be a favourite of Elizabeth although passed before his execution.

This book not only tells her story but life during the Tudor dynasty, war, sickness and religion all played a part in peoples lives.
Katherine was well educated and made it her mission to ensure her children were too.
Her sons including Walter …

A fascinating fictional version of the life of Katherine Gilbert, then Raleigh. Mother to Sir Walter Raleigh.
A grim first marriage to a weedy sounding social climber, Katherine was forced to start a family when very young, against her dear father's wishes and conditions of the pairing. She was a noblewoman however and fulfilled her duty to her horrible husband. A dark haired man on board the Trinity during her first sea voyage caught her eye, and her heart and that yearning lasted for years until one day, the awful husband expired and she was free to marry again. The …

An interesting read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 February 2022
As I live in Devon I enjoy historical novels set in this beautiful county, especial if the characters are people I know little about. The research for this novel seemed well done, with excellent description of locations.

A debut novel, I did feel that perhaps a thorough technical edit could have polished a few areas where the narrative slipped away a little, but on the whole, an interesting read.

Original review: 2 February 2022
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R2YHD36FVJT9R2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B09FLVZKSK

A well-written and interesting novel! We all know the name of Walter Raleigh, an explorer under Elizabeth I 's reign. What about his mother?

A Woman of Noble Wit, by Rosemary Griggs.

Not much is known about Katherine, Walter's mother. The author has created a compelling woman with a strong feeling of loyalty towards her family. However, this did not come at a cheap price! .....
I enjoyed this novel very much, as it is well embedded in historical events of the time, her family, the religious conflicts, life of privateers (or were they pirates?), all meticulously researched. Evocative descriptions of …