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When learning history, whether as a child or in later life, there are names that one retains with the greatest of ease, names such as Sir Walter Raleigh! Raleigh had an older half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert; perhaps not quite so well known, but also a man of Devon who was going to help change the course of English history in his own right. Katherine Champernowne was their mother. The women who bore our famous men of history were so often seen as insignificant! Not so in this case. Katherine Champernowne was Devon’s Tudor woman of noble wit and of a good and godly opinion, and authoress Rosemary Griggs has done a great service both to the lady herself and the world of historical literature in bringing her back to life over 500 years following her death. Largely focusing on Katherine, from childhood to old age we see her clothed in the facets of life, happiness and sadness, relationships, marriages, children, largely set within a Devon we can amazingly still recognise today complete with its changing seasons, sunshine and rain! We are blessed that many settings familiar to Katherine remain in a recognisable form. Compton, Greenway, East Budleigh and even areas of rural Devon such as those around Modbury, and of course the Dart Estuary, have stories to tell. The joy of reading Rosemary’s words is her power to recreate moments from the past within these present day settings.

Review via email to author website

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