From this fine book you will learn about the four distinct phases of John of Gaunt’s life:

1. John of Gaunt was Also There
2. Conveniently, John of Gaunt was Somewhere Else
3. John of Gaunt’s Castilian Vacation
4. John of Gaunt is Sad to Announce that Richard is At It Again

Excellent bio of a man who truly influenced dynasties. I knew a bit about him but the reality was impressive.

This was a very interesting read, especially since I was watching HotD at the same time. I thought the differences between this view of Gaunt and the Alison Weir book interesting, and I'd love to see someone address them at more length.

I haven’t read a history book yet that was so full of qualifiers & surmises, that added so little to the historical record. And while I enjoyed revisiting Gaunt’s England, I got no sense of Gaunt as a person. And the author seemed to be writing more of an apologia than a history. This was disappointing.

I enjoyed this very much. It's somewhat outside my usual era of interest (I'm more early medieval, leavened with some 20th century), but I found it fascinating.

The book is well written, with a taut narrative. There is enough detail here for the reader to draw their own conclusions about Gaunt's character. I'm going to have to do some more reading on this period.

This is an excellent biography of a fascinating character. John of Gaunt spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, the Black Prince. He fought campaigns all across Europe but also had to fight domestically to create and defend his dynasty. the House of Lancaster, which would play a huge part in shaping English history over the next few centuries.
Based on this excellent book Helen Carr is definitely a historian to look out for in future.

i learnt a lot about john of gaunt