SHE'S the woman who has for far too long been lost in the shadows of history.

But now thanks to Coggeshall writer Anne Boileau, the extraordinary life of Katharina von Bora is finally being given the attention it deserves.

On October 31 1517, Martin Luther defied the Christian world by pinning his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg.

A little time later, nine young nuns, intoxicated by Luther’s writings, escaped from their convent in empty herring barrels, five of them settling in Wittenberg, the very eye of the storm, and one of them, Katharina von Bora, marrying the rebellious former monk.

"I think like a lot of people," Anne tells me, "I didn't know Luther was even married, let alone married to someone so interesting as Katharina.

"It wasn't until I came across this little exhibition in Luther's house in Wittenburg about his personal life that I found out about her and a little seed was sown in my head.

"I soon came to admire Katharina," Anne continues. "She had grown up in the sheltered environment of the convent only to escape into a secular world that was in a state of rapid and unfamiliar change.

"Her marriage to Martin Luther was one of the first clerical marriages and both set a precedent for the church and also entrusted the establishment of family values to Katharina. She was the first feminist of her time who flouted convention, possessed a defiant and courageous spirit, a willingness to challenge authority and who shaped social and religious history alongside -not behind- her husband."

She wrote the book straight after her trip but for the last ten years that version had been languishing in a cupboard at home.

"I tried to get it published but had no luck," she adds. "That's when I got on with writing poetry and thought nothing more about it.

"Then one day a friend of mine asked whatever happened with that 'Luther' book I had written and got it out again."

With the anniversary of Luther's historical act coming up, Anne got some advice from a book editor and revisited Katharina's story.

Scandalising the world by marrying Luther, and following a threatened miscarriage, in Anne's new fictionalised account of Katharina's life we find her confined to bed to await the birth of their child, during which time, she starts to write her story.

"I did improve it quite a bit," she admits, "and having written poetry for quite some time I think my poetical ear did help.

"The book is very much what I would call faction. It's a true story with a few historical gaps that I've had to fill."

Katharina Luther: Nun, Rebel, Wife is published by Clink Street Publishing on October 4, when it will be available in all good bookshops.