Finding Kate by Maryanne Fantalis

Finding Kate is a new perspective on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, not set in contemporary times, but set instead well before the Bard’s period, during the Wars of the Roses. The choice is to our benefit, as Ms. Fantalis’s period detail shines. We drop into everyday village life to smell the smoke from the kitchen and stale beer at the tavern, feel the aches and pains of travel, and see the smugly superior grin on the priest’s face. Dialogue immerses us in court happenings and the struggle for the crown, and we come to understand a father’s business motivations as he marries off his daughters in the fifteenth century.

Our heroine, Kate, is reviled in her village for her shrew-like tendencies, but not all is as it seems. Men come courting, though their attentions center on Kate’s fair sister, Blanche. One of the potential suitors, Sir William, sees through to the reasons that underlie Kate’s behavior, and takes her as his wife. Sir William remolds Kate as the lady of his house with methods—starvation, sparse quarters, filthy clothing, and sharp-tongued criticism—that, while misogynistic by today’s standards at best, begin to turn the light bulb on for Kate. Her triumph in leaving her “shrew” image behind as she becomes a loving wife and essential partner to Sir William is memorable. As the book ends, I wondered how the intelligent and newly-wise Kate would support Sir William as he chooses sides in the show-down between the House of Lancaster and the House of York?

Maryanne Fantalis’s web site A Writer’s Notepad