Review
This is as close to Catherine Cookson as anyone will ever come. It is an affectionate warts-and-all account of her life by Piers Dudgeon, who knew her well. I worked with Catherine Cookson for 17 years before my retirement, and then for some time afterwards. She was a wonderful friend - loyal, generous to a fault, but also demanding. I loved her dearly and still miss our regular telephone calls as, indeed, I miss her presence. Yes, she could be difficult, but I admired her quality of writing and the sheer power of her storytelling. This book brings out the hardships and miseries she faced with Tom, as I once described him, 'the power behind the throne'. A wonderful illuminating summary of her life and work by someone who really cares. A must for all her fans.
Product Description
Through first-hand interviews with the popular author and a close study of her work, this thoroughly absorbing biography reveals who Catherine Cookson really was.
Catherine Cookson was a very private woman, but she left many clues to her life, opinions and personality in her fiction. Piers Dudgeon knew her well. He has previously written two books about her life, prompting Catherine to write: “You know me too well, sir!” In his new biography, he combines the hours of first-hand interviews with the author with a thorough grasp and understanding of her novels, to produce a revealing portrait of one of Britain’s best-loved writers, and how her life and her work were inseparably entwined.
Catherine Cookson drew heavily on her own life in her novels. Not only in Tyneside, where many of her stories are set and where she grew up, but also in the other events and locations of her life. Her novels mirror her repressions, chart her emotional growth and, Piers Dudgeon argues, her sexuality. He explores what he calls, Catherine’s seven faces, or facets, of her complex personality, facets which change through the course of her life. Each is reflected in one of Catherine’s most abiding literary creations from Annie Hannigan, the “poor orphan in the storm” in the Kate Hannigan series of novels, to Biddy Millican, heroine and pretentious self-improver of
The Black Velvet Gown.
Although his subject was a private person, Piers Dudgeon has succeeded in producing an intimate and revealing portrait of Catherine Cookson that all of her fans will love.
