My Book Reviews

This is book to "get lost" in It is very well researched and written. A fascinating story of a remarkable woman. Rosemary has certainly captured Katherine's life.

Thank you so much for your wonderful talk to Modbury History Society and for making the evening so enjoyable. It is a joy to hear such a well researched talk and delivered in such style.

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 …