Showing results by author "Catherine Cookson" in All Categories

Rory Connor was a gambling man and he had a gambler's luck. From the day he was born, his mother had known that Rory would be the one to make something of his life. At seven years old he was earning money from odd jobs and by 14 he was in full-time work. By the time he was 19, he had escaped the factory to become a rent-collector. Now, at 23, ambition was in full flow and he was always looking to bigger and better games to play.

The cinder path which led from the Northumberland farmhouse would always symbolise defeat for Charlie MacFell. People saw him as a born loser who always got the dirty end of the stick. At the root of the matter were boyhood humiliations by his brutal father - but was that all there was to Charlie MacFell Then an opportunity emerges for Charlie to display his inner strengths and integrity, and to give the lie to those who had thought him to be of no account.

The Broadhursts were a mining family and, to outsiders, they appeared to be happy, loyal and united. But it was Jinny—wife, mother, sister—who held them together. Her pride and her strength prevented their fears and hates from overwhelming them. There was Jack, her younger son, trapped into marrying a shrew; and Lottie, her sister, who was not quite...normal. And there was Larry, the bright one, the handsome one, who was obsessed with the memory of the girl who had jilted him.

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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.

Deep in the wild fen country, Rosamund Morley lived a cloistered, poverty-stricken existence with her sister Jennifer and her alcoholic father. She was the prop and stay of the family - and it was she who ran for help the night her father set his bed alight after a drinking bout. That night was to change the course of Rosamund's life - for, fleeing through the woods, she met Michael Bradshaw, the man she christened the 'Fen Tiger'.

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.

To outsiders, Dr Paul Higgins' life appeared to be happy and contented. Everyone had a good word for him and his home life appeared to be ideal. At 36, Bett Higgins could still pass for a much younger woman, not just in looks but in the way she loved the company of people half her age. A grand couple, some might say. But once the surgery was closed and the curtains drawn, the façade that Paul and Bett Higgins presented to the world concealed a welter of hate and ill-conceived bitterness that had grown worse with the passing years.

Now that her brood had left the nest, Fanny McBride, a large, cheerful and indomitable Tyneside widow, had time to sit by her window and watch the goings-on outside. There was plenty to keep her occupied: the mystery of the new woman at Mulhattan's Hall, the tenement block (here a fortnight already and not so much as a hello); the long-standing feud with Mrs Flannagan; after-school visits from her grandson Corny. But Fanny had any intention of ending her days in lonely isolation. So when her friend Mary fell sick and couldn't work, it was Fanny who took her place.

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.

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....

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?

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....

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.