SALE ON NOW! PROMOTIONS
Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She began work in service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married Tom Cookson, a local grammar-school master. Although she was originally acclaimed as a regional writer - her novel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby Award for the best regional novel of 1968 - her readership quickly spread throughout the world, and her many best-selling novels established her as one of the most popular of contemporary women novelists. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. She was appointed an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, in 1997. For many years she lived near Newcastle upon Tyne. She died shortly before her ninety-second birthday, in June 1998.
It started with a kiss and ends with one, as you probably guess. However, despite mining the same seam for many years, this admirable writer always used her material to spin engrossing yarns. On the death of her parents during the Blitz, innocent heiress Bridget is taken as a child by the Overmeers. In both senses of the word - being raised to believe it's her destiny to marry their son, Lawrence. Then her fortune can be used to save the family business. When she starts having doubts, largely via the glamorous Mrs Crofton, she finds unexpected allies in a long time family friend and the Overmeers' sworn enemy, as Lawrence turns against her. But he isn't the only one seeking revenge. Some inconsistency and over-abundant detail suggest this may have been an early work, but if perhaps not as accomplished as usual, still it's immensely readable. Bridget Gethers falls foul of the Overmeer family when she refuses to marry their son Laurence. Revenge and betrayal in this new paperback of a book published in hardback in 1998. (Kirkus UK)
