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Rainbow Days

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Bitter jealousies threaten the happiness of two people forever...

'You're everything to me. I'd have to lose my life before I'd lose you.' This is the vow Silas made to Cathleen on the day he asks her to marry him. Throughout their childhood their love has grown stronger and now, in 1900, they start to plan a life together.
But a jealous woman is determined to ruin their happiness and uses Silas's father - a good and honest man - to do so, forcing him to make an impossible sacrifice. As a dutiful son, Silas has no choice but to obey his father, and Cathleen must pay the bitter price. Separated, each is swept along to a place where there is no love or peace and no way back..

452 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 3, 2000

172 people are currently reading
298 people want to read

About the author

Josephine Cox

111 books331 followers
Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn, one of ten children. At the age of sixteen, Josephine met and married her husband Ken, and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to college and eventually gained a place at university but was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home. Instead, she went into teaching – and started to write her first full-length novel. She won the ‘Superwoman of Great Britain’ Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, at the same time as her novel was accepted for publication. She is now a No.1 bestselling author with over 40 books to her name.

She wrote dark psychological thrillers under the name Jane Brindle.

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5 stars
1,168 (59%)
4 stars
547 (27%)
3 stars
182 (9%)
2 stars
42 (2%)
1 star
37 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for Bronwyn Rykiert.
1,232 reviews42 followers
December 29, 2010
I loved this story of Silas and Cathleen. They have been best friends for years and now they have fallen in love. But a jealous woman is determined to ruin their happiness and uses Silas's father to do so. As a dutiful son, Silas has no choice but to obey his father, and they both pay a bitter price. Separated each is swept to a place where it seems there is no love or peace.

There were a couple of times during the listening of this tape when I could not put it down - it was so good.

It was a very good read.
Profile Image for What to read next ........
358 reviews3 followers
July 31, 2011
What a Fantastic Read!

My first book l have read of Josephine Cox. l was honestly blown away!
This book had such a good strong storyline, with characters you will fall in love with.
Thw storyline is so powerful, that it did not let me put the book down.

Silas and Cathleen, proved how powerful love is, when you love someone, no one can break it.

The story had a lot of tragic, but alot of rainbows at the end.

l bought this book, at a second hand bookstore, and l have had it sitting in my bookshelf for the past year.
l am so glad l decided to read it, it has become one of my favourite books of the year, so far.....
Profile Image for Rox.
290 reviews26 followers
October 14, 2020
Rainbow Days is a fantastic read. It's sweet, but has so much heart break. Silas and Cathleen are beautiful lovable characters, and I just wanted the best for them throughout the book. I must add that the fact that their love grew from friendship makes it so much better. They've always been there for each other and that's a story line we definitely need more of in books.
42 reviews1 follower
August 19, 2016
Saga

Another good read, but then I wouldn't expect anything else from Josephine Cox, I love reading her books and would recommend them to anyone who love a good Saga.
Profile Image for Kay Wells.
206 reviews8 followers
August 21, 2012
Easy read set back in the 1900's. not too keen.
11 reviews
July 24, 2021
I hadn't read any of Josephine Cox's previous works, but with Rainbow Days, I couldn't put it down being so caught up in the wonderful characters and storytelling. Romance, drama, suspense, easy to read - it had all.

BUT the ending was a disappointment, which is why I'm scoring a 3, not a 4 that it should deserve.

The ending, I felt, was too abrupt, too rushed - covering just over 2 pages (paperback version) - where the author "told" rather than "show" the ending.

All the previous chapters were leading towards a gripping ending, but I felt the author took the easy way out, rather than continue with the story and the book, to me, ended on an almost jarring note.

Still a good read, nonetheless.
Profile Image for kristel.
8 reviews
February 7, 2022
Didn’t have high expectations toward this book but it turns out that it gave me a great satisfaction. At first, I had to adjust since there were Scottish English words which I don’t know about but thankfully I learned from it. The storyline is great and I love all the characters. It only proved that - as Jessie stated - there’s nothing more powerful than love. It’s a great read, indeed. I enjoyed it so much though I’m a slow reader.
Profile Image for Hannah Blake.
Author 31 books357 followers
March 21, 2022
Although the ending is rushed I have to give 5 stars because this story had me racing through the pages when I re read it this year as it did when I read it on the year of release. I love the two main characters and their steadfast love for each other. There’s so many twists and turns but I am so happy that love conquers all in the end. Amazing story and would highly recommend.
1 review
July 23, 2018
Couldn't put it down!!!

This book was gripping from end to end. It had all the drama romance heartache and evilness all wrapped up in one great book. Would highly recommend you read it!!!
Profile Image for Sara.
32 reviews7 followers
August 27, 2019
This genre of book is my favourite and I was excited to discover a new author.
I felt that the story was weak in parts and slow to unfold then the ending which was a good plot seemed rushed. I would have liked it to be more descriptive and more in olden day dialect to really get a feel for the era.
Profile Image for Ilaria Fevola.
175 reviews10 followers
March 14, 2023
This is a romantic classical novel: two lovers feel in love in their youth but their are late separated by family duties. Then, they spend their lives trying to be back together. No surprises, no plot twists. All goes as expected. Very boring.
24 reviews1 follower
January 6, 2018
A lovely read. Never disappointed with Josephine Cox.
Profile Image for Janet Roberts.
Author 8 books9 followers
March 8, 2018
I enjoyed this book more than I expected, and it turned into a good, quick read on a winter's day.
776 reviews2 followers
November 14, 2021
Another gentle read by this author. Always interesting characters that keep you intrigued to the end.
3 reviews
March 18, 2022
Compelling

I loved the story in this book.there were real ups and downs. I could not put it down.didn't want it to end.
71 reviews1 follower
January 26, 2023
Great

What a great book, kept me awake at night cause I wanted to see what happened next, I would recommend Josephine Cox.
6 reviews
December 28, 2023
Wonderful story

Wonderful story, could not put it down until I had finished reading it. Looking forward to reading the next one.
51 reviews
January 23, 2024
kindness & spiteful mix.

If anyone one can write a page turner Jo Cox can.
Always a excellent plot of love & spite.
Excellent book.
Profile Image for Tracey.
263 reviews98 followers
February 26, 2024
I really enjoyed this book, but I found the ending to be a bit rushed. It was a good read though
Profile Image for Jordan.
22 reviews
May 25, 2024
Lovely book, very easy read..

However the end was rushed I'd have liked to known more about the new life together
36 reviews
July 9, 2024
Je ne sais pas pourquoi j'ai poursuivi cette lecture...
Profile Image for Zdenka.
82 reviews2 followers
January 27, 2025
Another wonderfully told story by Josephine Cox of a girl who loves a boy, lots of drama and she loses boy, more drama and she gets her the love of her life back.
1 review
August 21, 2025
Another brilliant read from the wonderful Josephine cox! Couldn’t put it down
23 reviews
November 29, 2025
third Josephine Cox book I have reread and the themes are very similar. good story though
70 reviews11 followers
February 16, 2017
I quite enjoyed this book. It is a simple and quick read. A fairly predictable romance.
2 reviews
April 18, 2023
Love and the life drama it accompanies is nothing which I hadn't read before but to read a novel solely based on these themes was a new experience. (I am more of a fantasy and young-adult reader.) Rainbow days was a book I picked up once and now that I'm done reading it, I am assured that I will never be reading it again.

The opinion is solely mine and might contradict with others', but I was not in any way moved by the heartaches and the bitter life experiences in the book. To see it through was a chore. I did not like the writing since the beginning but by principle, I had to see it though (which took quite a bit of will).

The middle parts of the book felt drawn out. They seemed to me to have been a ridiculous set up, considering the short, sudden and summary-like ending. The ending was desperately wanting of description and the feelings of the characters, which ironically enough are found in plentiful with the rest of the book in contrast.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

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