Showing results by author "Catherine Cookson" in All Categories

Someone had once told Emma Molinero, the daughter of an itinerant carnival performer, that she was made for trouble. Her earliest memories were of life with a travelling show - part fair and part circus - that toured the shires at the dawn of the Victorian era. But at the age of seven she found herself an orphan who, in accordance with her Spanish father's dying wishes, must now leave the warm and friendly community to live with an unknown English grandmother far to the north in County Durham. With her she took the whips and knives used with such dexterity by her father for his act.

Prudence Dudley was a woman who appeared to have everything: an undeniably attractive woman who had already achieved considerable success as a novelist. Yet she remained at odds with life after her sad rejected childhood and a more recent deeply wounding emotional crisis. Nearing a breakdown, Prudence seeks support from her staunch and supportive Auntie Maggie, and flees to her rented cottage in the Lake District. They encounter the owner of the cottage, aggressive and overbearing David Bernard Michael McVeigh. In time, Pru comes to learn that his iron façade is not the whole man.

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....

Sep McGilby always said that Emily Kennedy had a happy face. And at 16, Emily had a lot to be glad about. She loved working as maid-of-all-work for the McGilbys, the only cloud on her horizon was her anxiety about her delicate younger sister, Lucy. But when Mrs McGilby dies, and Sep is killed in an accident soon after, Emily and Lucy must leave South Shields to look for work, which they find at Croft Dene House.

Proud and canny, ignorant and intensely ambitious, Hannah Massey is a born ruler. Her kingdom may only be a working-class household in County Durham, but within its walls her iron will governs a predominantly male family, her word unchallengeable law. Now, in late middle age, her ambition is yet to be satisfied. She wants to see her brood living in the house where she was in service as a young girl. The apple of Hannah's eye is her pretty younger daughter, Rosie, who has just returned home after a spell in London.

Catherine Cookson's well-loved novels Hamilton and Goodbye Hamilton tell the story of Maisie, who invented an imaginary horse to keep her company through the long years of an unhappy marriage and before she became a best-selling author. In this engaging sequel, Hamilton has vanished from Maisie’s life, and in the days after the death of her second husband she takes comfort from the company of a cheerful, bright-eyed little cockney boy named Harold.

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.

Motherhood is every woman's right and the natural outcome of a happy marriage. But what then when a normal and beautiful young woman is forced to recognise, after two years as the wife of a country parson in the north of England, that her marriage will never bring her the fulfilment she desperately needs? Grace Rouse is faced with this situation and, like many other women before her, she seeks to escape a mounting sense of frustration and despair by turning from the husband she has tried in vain to love to the comfort and release offered by another man.

John Emmerson was a lonely man. He had a wife, a son, friends, but he was isolated from all the people and events around him by the tragedy of his past. Then he met Cissie, and for the first time his loneliness eased a little. Cissie was everything that his wife Ann was not. She was warm, compassionate and generous. And she was quick to sense the needs of a desolate unhappy man. But Cissie was also a young widow: poor, and with a young son to support. And John Emmerson was one of the town's leading solicitors - a man of importance whose every move was watched by the local dignitaries. . .

When Kate Mitchell was offered the job of part-time secretary at Tor-Fret, a lonely old house on the Northumberland fells, she had no idea that the household was composed only of men. Her employer, Maurice Rossiter, an embittered victim of polio, was subject to alternate fits of temper and depression. Even so, Kate found it difficult to understand his peculiar hatred of his elder brother Logan, on whose charity Maurice was obliged to depend. But when she accidentally stumbled upon Maurice with Logan's fiancée, she became aware of some of the secrets of Tor-Fret.

Zou er een mysterieuze vloek heersen op de mannen in de Mallen-familie? Dit kan toch geen toeval zijn... Bijna alle jongens stierven op jonge leeftijd of ze gingen gebukt onder een slechte reputatie. Ook hadden ze allemaal dezelfde typerende witte lok in hun haar. Dit hadden ze te danken aan hun vader, Thomas Mallen, die meerdere buitenechtelijke zonen op de wereld zette. Overal waar zij opduiken, worden ze achtervolgd door tragedie en schandalen. Lukt het de andere familieleden om zich aan de vloek te ontsnappen? "De getekenden" is het eerste deel uit de romantische serie "Het geslacht Mallen".

Voor de O’Briens is iedere dag een gevecht om te overleven. Mary Ellen en haar vijf kinderen wonen in de armoedige buitenwijken van een Engels mijnwerkersdorp. Ze staat er helemaal alleen voor, want haar man is verslaafd aan alcohol en regelmatig agressief. John, haar oudste zoon, werkt in de haven om het gezin te kunnen onderhouden. Hij is anders dan de meeste mannen in de buurt: Hij is gevoelig, slim en zijn moeders enige steun en toeverlaat.

Wie had ooit gedacht dat de strooien hoed met gouden glans haar hele leven zou veranderen? In het prachtige Victoriaanse Londen krijgt Emily de prachtige hoed cadeau van haar beste vriendin. Wanneer ze naar Nice reist voor vakantie, trekt het hoofddeksel de aandacht van de aantrekkelijke Paul, en Emily weet zijn hart te veroveren. Helaas is Paul niet de lieve man wie hij leek en verwoest Emilys leven, waar zelfs haar kinderen en kleinkinderen nog de gevolgen van kunnen merken. Hoe heeft de strooien hoed alles zo overhoop gehaald?

Fanny McBride on yksinäinen leski, jonka lapset ovat muuttaneet pois kotoa. Nyt Fanny istuu päivät pitkät ikkunan ääressä. Ikkunan läpi hän seuraa kadun elämää. Fannyn elämä kuitenkin muuttuu, kun hänen ystävänsä Mary sairastuu. Mary ei voi enää käydä töissä, ja Fanny päättää ottaa Maryn työpaikan vastaan. "Leskiäidin lapset" on Catherine Cooksonin vuonna 1959 julkaistu romaani. Catherine Cookson (1906–1998) oli englantilainen kirjailija. Hän julkaisi uransa aikana miltei sata romaania.

Seitsemäntoistavuotias Brid Stevens herää innolla aamuneljältä. Hän on sopinut menevänsä katsomaan auringonnousua tansseissa tapaamansa Joe Lloydin kanssa. He tapaavat kalliojyrkänteellä. Auringonnousu osoittautuu upeaksi. Kun Brid palaa kotiin, helvetti on irti. Mustasukkainen naapuruston poika on väittänyt Bridin vanhemmille, että Brid ja Joe olisivat viettäneet jyrkänteellä romanttisen yön yhdessä.

Jinny Brownlowlla ei mene hyvin. Hänen sulhasensa on jättänyt hänet toisen vuoksi. Kaiken huipuksi toinen nainen on Jinnyn kämppis! Jinny keskittyy sihteerin työhönsä paikallisessa insinööritoimistossa. Hänen ainoa harrastuksensa on paikallinen teatteriryhmä, mutta teatteriryhmässäkin Jinnystä tuntuu, ettei hän saa ansaitsemaansa arvostusta. Eräänä päivänä insinööritoimiston kiireinen johtaja Henderson kutsuu Jinnyn huoneeseensa. Hän pyytää Jinnyä tekemään konekirjoitustöitä itselleen.

John O’Brienin elämä ei ole helppoa. John tekee pitkää päivää telakalla, jotta voi auttaa lapsuudenperhettään. Monet muut alueen työläisperheet ovat hirvittävän köyhiä, mutta O’Brienin perhe ei suostu kohtaalonsa. Johnin elämä muuttuu, kun hän tapaa nuoren opettajattaren Mary Llewellynin. Heidän rakkautensa edessä on kuitenkin esteitä. Hyväksyykö ympäröivä yhteiskunta työmiehen ja opettajattaren suhdetta? Vuonna 1952 julkaistu "Kadun kaunein tyttö" on yksi Catherine Cooksonin tunnetuimmista ja rakastetuimmista romaaneista.

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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.