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Books: Mixed Fiction, Oct. 11, 1954

KATHERINE, by Anya Seton (589 pp.; Houghton Mifflin; $3.95).

The Plantagenets really lived it up. They dined on roast lark, ginger fritters and porcupine seethed in almond milk, and their halls were strewed with cartloads of rose petals. The Plantagenets' brides were not so hot, but their mistresses were every bit as toothsome as the ginger fritters. Such a dish was Katherine de Roet, the daughter of an obscure herald. She had scarcely settled down at the court of Edward III when she was nearly raped by a dour Saxon knight. The gay John of...

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