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Children of Disobedience: The Love Story of Martin Luther and Katharina of Bora
One of the most scandalous love stories of a renegade monk marries a run-away nun, and in the process our understanding of love between man and woman takes on a historically new meaning. So too the love between God and people, and with it our very understanding of religion. This is the story of two passionate and revolutionary individuals who believed that God had created them to be free, to love with soul, mind and with their bodies, and to live their very own life sweeping aside church dogma and social convention. Based on extensive research (including all of Luther's letters to Katharina--hers had not been considered important enough at the time to be kept), Asta Scheib's novel is a sensitive and critical portrait of the man Martin Luther from the perspective of his wife. It is as well a beautiful description of the woman Katharina von Bora who held her own strong and influential self in a relationship that was neither simple nor easy.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 13, 2023
4 Stars
short review for busy readers : a shortish, highly literary historical novel about the major events in the life of Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther. Very historically detailed. Excellent portrayal of the major players in Wittenberg and the circle around Luther and the Reformation, showing them as fallible humans who lived in an uncertain, violent time somewhat similar to our own.
In detail:
This novel was translated from German into English as Children of Disobedience: The Love Story of Martin Luther and Katharina of Bora, but don't believe the 'love story' part. It's far more than that.
Katharina von Bora lived in a perpetual shitstorm, comparable to the worst of today's social media witch hunts. She was slandered, defamed, shunned, hated and portrayed in picture and word as a Xanthippe or a sexual deviant...and all because of two things. 1. She was a former nun and 2. she married the highly controversial former monk, Martin Luther. Something unthinkable at the time.
True enough, she was not a shrinking violet.
She was choleric, demanding, stated her opinion boldly and openly, and refused to be cowed by what the world thought of her - or her family. Her marriage with Luther was also not a bed of roses, as they were both strong-willed individuals who butted heads with each other quite often over a lot of topics.
A woman with any weaker of a personality wouldn't have been able to handle the public hate and scandal, nor Luther himself, nor have done such a heroic job of handling the multitude of poor hangers-on and devotees who came to live with them at the Black Convent. In that sense, Katharina was in her element.
This is not a love story. It's the story of an authentic marriage against the backdrop of a difficult, bloody, major social and political upheaval.
The novel covers Katherina's life from the point she escaped the convent (where she was dumped as a child after her mother died) up to the death of Luther. At times the narration meanders when the historical record is thin, but it is always tender, insightful, chock-full of historical detail and Katharina's own forceful presence.
If you know very little about the events of the Reformation or about Luther (as I didn't), this is an excellent, vivid history lesson.
The literary style might bother some readers used to genre writing, but for me, once I got used to it, the story pulled me into the whirlwind of the mid-16th century and I found myself enjoying the story (and the narrative voice) very much.
Recommended for literary fiction readers and those who enjoy reading about impressive, but often overlooked, historical women.
short review for busy readers : a shortish, highly literary historical novel about the major events in the life of Katharina von Bora, the wife of Martin Luther. Very historically detailed. Excellent portrayal of the major players in Wittenberg and the circle around Luther and the Reformation, showing them as fallible humans who lived in an uncertain, violent time somewhat similar to our own.
In detail:
This novel was translated from German into English as Children of Disobedience: The Love Story of Martin Luther and Katharina of Bora, but don't believe the 'love story' part. It's far more than that.
Katharina von Bora lived in a perpetual shitstorm, comparable to the worst of today's social media witch hunts. She was slandered, defamed, shunned, hated and portrayed in picture and word as a Xanthippe or a sexual deviant...and all because of two things. 1. She was a former nun and 2. she married the highly controversial former monk, Martin Luther. Something unthinkable at the time.
True enough, she was not a shrinking violet.
She was choleric, demanding, stated her opinion boldly and openly, and refused to be cowed by what the world thought of her - or her family. Her marriage with Luther was also not a bed of roses, as they were both strong-willed individuals who butted heads with each other quite often over a lot of topics.
A woman with any weaker of a personality wouldn't have been able to handle the public hate and scandal, nor Luther himself, nor have done such a heroic job of handling the multitude of poor hangers-on and devotees who came to live with them at the Black Convent. In that sense, Katharina was in her element.
This is not a love story. It's the story of an authentic marriage against the backdrop of a difficult, bloody, major social and political upheaval.
The novel covers Katherina's life from the point she escaped the convent (where she was dumped as a child after her mother died) up to the death of Luther. At times the narration meanders when the historical record is thin, but it is always tender, insightful, chock-full of historical detail and Katharina's own forceful presence.
If you know very little about the events of the Reformation or about Luther (as I didn't), this is an excellent, vivid history lesson.
The literary style might bother some readers used to genre writing, but for me, once I got used to it, the story pulled me into the whirlwind of the mid-16th century and I found myself enjoying the story (and the narrative voice) very much.
Recommended for literary fiction readers and those who enjoy reading about impressive, but often overlooked, historical women.
October 21, 2025
Aus meiner Sicht eine interessante und lohnende Lektüre, was auch daran liegen mag, dass im Mittelpunkt dieses Buches nicht Martin Luther, sondern Katharina von Bora steht. Sprachlich gelungen, so dass man sich während der Lektüre ins 16. Jahrhundert versetzt fühlt.
June 5, 2021
Sprachlich einfach nicht gut. Es wird mit Zeitzeugnissen versucht eine zeitgerechte Sprache zu finden und gleichteitig zeitgenössische Themen anzuschneiden, was jedoch nicht so recht gelingen will...
May 25, 2025
Probably because it's my first time reading a genre as this? So rushed yet slow — I would have read this some other time when my mind is open enough for this genre.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews