The Wife of Bath

A Biography

By: Marion Turner

Narrated by: Marion Turner

From the award-winning biographer of Chaucer, the story of his most popular and scandalous character, from the Middle Ages to #MeToo

Ever since her triumphant debut in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath, arguably the first ordinary and recognisably real woman in English literature, has obsessed readers—from Shakespeare to James Joyce, Voltaire to Pasolini, Dryden to Zadie Smith. Few literary characters have led such colourful lives or matched her influence or capacity for reinvention in poetry, drama, fiction, and film. In The Wife of Bath, Marion Turner tells the fascinating story of where Chaucer’s favourite character came from, how she related to real medieval women, and where her many travels have taken her since the fourteenth century, from Falstaff and Molly Bloom to #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.

A sexually active and funny working woman, the Wife of Bath, also known as Alison, talks explicitly about sexual pleasure. She is also a victim of domestic abuse who tells a story of rape and redemption. Formed from misogynist sources, she plays with stereotypes. Turner sets Alison’s fictional story alongside the lives of real medieval women—from a maid who travelled around Europe, abandoned her employer, and forged a new career in Rome to a duchess who married her fourth husband, a teenager, when she was sixty-five. Turner also tells the incredible story of Alison’s postmedieval life, from seventeenth-century ballads and Polish communist pop art to her reclamation by postcolonial Black British womenwriters.

Entertaining and enlightening, funny and provocative, The Wife of Bath is a one-of-a-kind history of a literary and feminist icon who continues to capture the imagination of readers.

©2023 Marion Turner (P)2023 Recorded Books

Outstanding

This title really, really hit the spot for me. I have been a lifelong reader of Chaucer, even taking a class in graduate school on him many years ago. This was the deep dive into Allison that I never knew I needed. I enjoyed listening to the author’s performance; she was very engaging and did not distract from the content.

A fascinating Chaucer fictional character

The Wife of Bath” was a fascinating journey of a Chaucer fictional character that has traveled thru time from the 14th century thru to the 21st century as if she was a real person. The research, analysis, comparisons and examples presented by the author are exceptional in their presentation and of how this fictional character, “Alison” appears in literature and multiple countries. The book exhibits the author’s extensive research and presentation of the material but too many words were devoted the explicit description of promiscuity and detracted from the author’s scholarly work. Experienced as an Audio Book

Tracing the role and character of the Wife of Bath through history and literature, in a wide variety of British eras and genres.

The author lends the necessary emotion and conviction to the narrative, but makes it challenging for an American listener. The book takes us through many different Alisons over the centuries, in literature and history, exploring society’s attitudes to a free and uninhibited woman. Occasionally more than necessary. Interesting, nevertheless.

Author Narration is the Best

Thank you Ms. Turner for the education and encouragement to learn more and be more like Allison of Bath.

Wonderful!

I so enjoyed listening to this book. I loved the way Turner put the wife of Bath into her historical context, examined how she has been edited and mutated by various authors through the centuries, and how her true voice is finally being heard again through her literary descendants. Well written, well read. Keep them coming, Marion Turner!

Enthusiasm for the substance exudes in every line

This is a highly informative, literary and entertaining review of the life and times of the medieval non-lady. It is rare that such a hidden subject is brought to life for the modern reader. Along with Super Infinite - these are the best two literary gems in recent years.

Brilliant, but..

This book was compelling but would have been SO much better with a professional reader. What a shame.

Bravo

Well done! I enjoy when authors read their work and I can hear the care they have for their subject.

Interesting

An engaging look at a fascinating character. Well researched and well written. The End.