Catherine Cookson : The Biography

by Kathleen Jones

"Write about what you know". Catherine Cookson was a phenomenon in her own lifetime. Her illegitimate origins in the Newcastle slums of the early 1900s gave no indication that she would, at the time of her death in 1998, be a bestselling novelist, known to millions as "Our Kate". Cookson worked her way out of her poverty-ridden childhood, and exorcised its worst horrors through her increasingly successful writing. Her astonishingly prodigious output--97 novels in all--was matched by her philanthropic generosity--as her wealth grew, she ploughed resources back into the impoverished community from which she came. Her roots were inextricably linked with the north-east of England. Kathleen Jones has drawn on previously unpublished excerpts from Cookson's own autobiography, plus lengthy tape recordings and interviews with close friends to reveal the deeply troubled woman behind the remarkable success story. Cookson's breakdown and series of miscarriages have been well-documented, but Jones sheds new light on the author's disturbed relationship with her mother, and the intense friendship with Nan Smith which threatened her marriage. Above all, Jones returns to the works, so much more than mass-market fiction, which overcame the scoffing of literary prejudice to earn Cookson the title of " the greatest historical novelist of all time."

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Writing

Paperback

First published February 26, 1990

About the author

I was brought up on a remote hill farm in the English Lake District. I started writing as a teenager, publishing small pieces in local magazines and newspapers, fanzines and teenage mags such as ‘Jackie’. I married very early and started travelling the world with my husband, had four children, worked in broadcasting in the middle east, and became a single parent. Back in the UK I went to university as a mature student, and wrote my first book which I was lucky enough to have published by Bloomsbury. Since then I’ve managed to (almost!) make a living as a writer, teaching creative writing pt-time to pay the bills.

I’ve probably made it sound easy, but it wasn’t. I know I’ve been incredibly lucky to be published and to be able to share what I love doing most with other people. Now I live with a sculptor who is working in Italy and so I spend as much time there as I can. It’s a bit of a scramble sometimes - a crazy life - but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Reviews

[Kathleen Jones]

Catherine Cookson was the most amazing woman to write about - a life story more incredible than any of her novels or memoirs. Most of the information in the biography was taken from tapes recorded by Catherine's first agent who wrote a biography that Catherine suppressed. Only after her death could the information be made public and I was very lucky to be given the tapes. They were electrifying!

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating as it gave an insight and detailed account into Catherine Cookson’s tough life. I had no idea she suffered so much, first as a young girl growing up in poverty then afflicted by many health problems. Very sad though, it seemed she was a fighter.

*Book #69/72 of my 2019 coffee table to-read challenge, cont. 2020

[Deborah Siddoway · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1994, I wrote a letter to Catherine Cookson, explaining that my Mam was a huge fan, and that I wanted to get her something special for her 40th birthday. I asked if it were possible for her to autograph a book for her. I told her about my studies at university, explaining that I was from the North East like her, but having moved to Australia when I was so young, my ties to the North East felt somehow tenuous, and all I knew of it was only from her books. I told her I had only read one or two of hers, but that I had read Gaskell's North and South. I enclosed a cheque in Australian dollars, which I hoped would cover the cost of the book and the postage back to me in Australia. When I wrote to Catherine Cookson, I had no real idea just how popular she was, just how many books she had sold, and what made her the writer that she became.

Reading this biography gave me something of an insight into who I was writing to. Born as an illegitimate child to an impoverished Catholic family, Catherine Cookson emerged from the ashes of one of the worst starts in life to become one of the most cherished writers of the region. Much to my shame, I have read nothing of hers since I wrote to her back in 1994. This is something I feel compelled to do since reading this biography.

The biography itself has been meticulously researched, and references much of Catherine's writing to her life. From that perspective, it is very much a historicist approach to understanding Catherine's fiction. I am unable to comment as to the efficacy of this approach as I have read too little of her fiction to have any real understanding of is. However, Jones seeks to place Catherine's writing in the context of her experiences growing up in the North East.

Leaving aside the few editorial errors that have been made, the book, overall, gives an insightful picture into Catherine's life, and is told in an engaging, yet critical way. I was particularly intrigued by Jones's attempts to weave snippets from Cookson's failed attempts to construct her own autobiography into her telling of Catherine's life.

Jones places Catherine's works into the context of the times she lived in, pointing out that she was one of the most successful novelists of her time, selling millions of books, engaging in philanthropy (much like JK Rowling does today) on an unparalleled scale. Yet what struck me is the question she challenges the reader with - is she denied her place in the literary ranks of history because she is northern and working class while the literary establishment is firmly rooted in the south and middle class? It is an interesting question, and one to which I would add that Catherine was not only working class and northern, but also female and Catholic.

The comparisons made to Dickens are entirely appropriate. Catherine wrote of the North East in the same way that Dickens wrote of London. Both were obsessive, compulsive writers with a prodigious output, both were best sellers of their time. They both wrote because they could not NOT write. Their stories captured them, transported them, saved them. Both escaped poverty, and fraught childhoods were education was sacrificed in favour of trying to earn money for the family. Yet today, Catherine's books are fading, and attain none of the scholarly attention that the works of Dickens attracts. Does it come back to Catherine's otherness - being working class not middle class like Dickens, being Northern, rather than a Londoner. Being female? Or is it because her works lack the genius that you unarguably find in a Dickens novel? Having just moved back to the North, I feel a need to explore her works to try and find the answer to this for myself.

Jones's biography gave me an incredible insight into Catherine's life. It is a book I would recommend.

And for those who are wondering - Catherine Cookson sent me a letter, enclosing an autographed copy of one of her books for my Mam. She returned my cheque with her best wishes. She truly was an inspirational writer, and a woman of courage, tenacity and strength. She was a Northern lass with a heart of gold. I look forward to reading her work.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Catherine could hardly wait to get home from the library and experience what she described as the Golden moment when the pages of a book opened to reveal a light like a candle in the night so bright it illuminates the mind"she aimed to borrow a new book every day

She then discovered the public library in South Shields and began borrowing books. It seems incredible now that someone who loved reading so much should not have been introduced to the free reading room earlier. But no one from her family ever went there, books were not part of their daily lives. Catherine's forays to the library we're not always successful she didn't know what books to choose in order to educate herself. 'If only I'd had someone to guide my reading"

[Adrian Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography about a woman who led such a full, interesting, and admirable life.
Jones does her subject full justice. Very well researched, compelling and always readable.

[Julie Haigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the Catherine Cookson Biographies.

This book is very well written, very interesting and certainly three-quarters of the book is well paced. I've read a few other Catherine Cookson biographies and been really disappointed, not liked the tone of the writing etc. but this one is certainly the best tribute to one of our greatest novelists. There are quite a few photos which add to the interest and quotes from Catherine's novels/interviews etc woven into the writing all with references where they have originated from. These are quite nicely done but not overdone and you don't have to keep looking up where the quote is from to enjoy the book. The last quarter of the book is not really as gripping as the first and it does lose momentum. Perhaps it would be better to have left out much of the last few years of her life because this seems very repetitive just talking about when she is ill and having to take to her bed (which is quite often)and does not really hold the reader when it goes on for pages and pages.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was devastated when 'Our Kate' passed away!! I had read, loved, and devoured all her books over the years...I still have them all!

Her upbringing in Newcastle, UK, and the subsequent popularity of her life, and the #1 novelist that she became, was quite remarkable, to herself and everyone she knew, plus those of us who only knew her through her books.

She found the ability to make a huge amount of people happy, losing themselves in her tales, even if only for a short time!!

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting life and a very good read.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read of the life of one of my favourite authors.