Showing results by author "Catherine Cookson" in All Categories

When young Jinnie Howlett’s widowed father, a tinker man, died a pauper, she was already a reluctant inmate of a northern workhouse. But she thought herself fortunate - the alternative might have meant she ended up on the streets. When close to her 15th birthday and after years of toil and drudgery, she was at last offered a position as a maid-of-all-work. 

In this, the third novel of a trilogy, the atmosphere in the Bailey household was alive with anticipation. It was not only because Christmas was approaching or even that Bill Bailey was tackling the biggest project of his career. No, all the excitement was because in two weeks’ time, Fiona Bailey would give birth to a baby, the first arrival since Bill had married Fiona as a young widow, already mother of Mark, Katie and Willie, and with the adopted Mamie now part of the family circle.

From the moment Bill Bailey arrived to take up residence at Fiona Nelson’s home in the Tyneside town of Fellburn, he made his presence felt in no uncertain terms. As a young widow left badly off, and with three children to bring up, Fiona had come to know all the problems of trying to make ends meet. So despite the inevitably disapproving comments of her own mother, reckoned locally to be an interfering woman, she advertised for a lodger to help pay for some of the bills....

Bill Bailey, the rugged Liverpudlian, was now a fully fledged Tyneside building contractor, as staunchly loyal to his squad of workmen as they were to him. He had also met and married Fiona, a young widow with her own lovable family, to which she and Bill shortly added with the adoption of the orphaned Mamie. Life was good, but the economic climate was growing distinctly cloudy, and it was vital that Bill land the contract of a major development scheme. Competition was fierce, and when his men came under attack, Bill was sure that someone was out to spoil their chances for the job. 

Sönerna, de flesta av dem utomäktenskapliga, till Mallen av High Banks Hall bär alla ett ont arv, en karakteristisk vit hårlock vid ena tinningen. Det sägs att de som bär den är förbannade och kommer att dö unga. När arvtagaren Thomas Mallen och de två flickor han tagit under sina vingar tvingas flytta från High Banks Hall efter att han ruinerats möter han den modiga Anna, en fattig guvernant. Men även bröderna Radlet tar sig in i deras liv. Och en av bröderna bär den omisskännliga vita hårlocken.

Each generation of the Mallen family has been cursed with a dramatic white streak in their jet-black hair. Barbara does not have the visible streak to identify her as a Mallen, but she has spent her life trying to forget her parentage - and the horrific circumstances behind her birth. When her triplets - the Mallen litter - were born, she hoped that it would herald a new beginning. But it seems that one of her sons bears the Mallen streak - and that the Mallen curse will never die out.... 

Even as a child Barbara was beautiful, but as her beauty grew so did the affliction which shadowed it. She was becoming deaf. Yet living in an almost silent world protected her from what could be a worse affliction - to know the truth of her own origins. Barbara had another protector in Anna Brigmore, who knew that truth and was haunted by the thought it must one day be revealed to this girl she cherished like her own child. And among the surrounding hills and valleys of Northumberland, it was a long-relished scandal....

Thomas Mallen of High Banks Hall had many sons, most of them bastards. But to all of them he passed on his mark - a distinctive flash of white hair running to the left temple, known as the Mallen Streak. It was said that those who bore the streak seldom reached old age and that nothing good ever came of a Mallen. In 1851, Thomas Mallen found himself a ruined man, forced amid scandal and disgrace to sell the hall. With him went his two young wards and their indomitable governess. Then the Radlet brothers of Wilbur Farm arrived, one of whom bore the unmistakable Mallen Streak.

When Connie buys a house on the moors, she has to negotiate with the abrupt Vincent O'Connor. She soon discovers that mystery is a way of life for Vincent, who has an increasing influence on her life. Then the shocking truth about the man with whom she shared many years of her life comes to light.

Set at the turn of the century, this is one of Catherine Cookson's most unusual novels, powerfully portraying a woman dangerously driven by desire and ambition.

Some women are destined to arouse in men either fierce hatred or insatiable desire. Such a woman was Katie Mulholland. At 15, a scullery maid in the house of the Rosires, she had been raped by the master. Now, many years later, she had enough money to maintain three carriages if she wanted to and she was on her way to see Bernard Rosier under very different circumstances.

When Fred Carpenter suggests to his wife, Sally, that they should take a boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads, she is filled with trepidation. Nevertheless she summons her courage and they and their bull-terrier Bill set off, with Fred at the helm of Dogfish Three. Sally's misgivings are soon justified, as a series of disasters - human, nautical, and canine - threaten to ruin their holiday. Then everything changes as they make friends with the boating fraternity and encounter the remarkable 15-year-old Rosie, whose family history stirs their curiosity and sympathy.

A story of mystery, love and revenge. Bridget Gether's parents were killed in the wartime blitz, so she had lived with the Overmeers at Balderstone, their sprawling property in the Northumbrian countryside, since she was a child. Unaware that she had been manipulated into agreeing to marry their son, Laurence, an encounter with Bruce Dickenson, the son of a neighbouring farmer, opened her eyes to the possibility that she might be making a serious mistake.

Set against the Northumbrian coast in the 1960s, the events of this love story take place over one day: a day during which everyone involved discovers that the consequences of an innocent meeting are far more significant than the event itself.

Mary Hetherington was a mother who dominated her family. And when David brought home Sarah from the "wrong end" of the 15 Streets, a girl who brought life and laughter into her dustless house, she soon took against her.

Invalided out of the army at the end of the Second World War, Matthew Wallingham wonders what place there is in a new social order for a blind man, even if he is a decorated war hero. He has the sympathy of family and friends, but it seems the only person who can help him is his nurse, Liz. When he arrives home, however, he realises that his family have their problems too.

Hannah och Humphrey är det perfekta paret. Så ser det i alla fall ut utifrån. Men bakom stängda dörrar känner sig Hannah både ensam och kvävd. För att stå ut skriver Hannah en barnbok, som hon sedan försöker få utgiven på ett förlag. Mötet med förläggaren, David Craventon, blir ett möte som kommer att ändra inte bara hennes litterära bana, utan hela hennes liv. Med David upplever Hannah för första gången äkta kärlek. Förhållandet går till en början att mörka för Humphrey: David och Hannah får tid för varandra under torsdagskvällarna, när Humphrey inte är hemma.

En dimmig höstmorgon 1850 väcks Matthew Thornton och hans familj av att någon bankar hårt på husets ekport. Utanför står en dödssjuk kvinna och en liten flicka. De är klädda i trasor och mycket medtagna. Kvinnan räcker över den lilla flickan och säger: "Här. Hon är ditt barn och nu får du ta hand om henne." Nu börjar den lilla flickans nya liv. Hon heter Hannah Boyle och är åtta år. Hennes far axlar så småningom ansvaret och hans fyra barn välkomnar Hannah som ett syskon. Den enda som inte uppskattar tillökningen i syskonskaran är styvmodern.

Ända sedan hon var liten har Barbara varit vacker, med korpsvart hår och ett häftigt temperament. Men efter en olycka förmörkas hennes liv när hon börjar förlora hörseln och tvingas leva i tystnad. Tystnaden skyddar henne dock också från en vetskap som annars hade kunnat förstöra henne, den hemska vetskapen om hennes ursprung. Böckerna om familjen Mallen är en historisk trilogi med en handling som sträcker sig från mitten av 1800-talet till tiden för första världskriget.

Bara två år efter att hans fru dött gifter Hector Stewart om sig med Moira Conelly i ett försök att rädda familjegården på engelska landsbygden. Moira ska nämligen snart få ta del av ett rejält arv. När sedan Moira blir lurad på arvspengarna faller familjen isär, men efter att en oväntad tragedi inträffar får de en chans att stärka banden mellan sig igen. Catherine Cookson föddes 1906 i South Shields och dog 1998 i Newcastle-upon-Tyne. "Kate Hannigan", hennes första roman, utkom 1949.