The Whip

by Catherine Cookson

After the death of her father, Emma Molinero moves in with her grandmother and struggles to find a place for herself in a rugged English village

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Historical, Novels, British Literature

370 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, who Catherine believed was her older sister. Catherine 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 contemporary woman novelist. She received an OBE in 1985, was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993, and was appointed an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, in 1997.

For many years she lived near Newcastle upon Tyne.

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

After some consideration, I've settled on a single word to summarize The Whip: SUFFERING. This isn't necessarily a negative. Suffering in The Whip is primarily meant to affirm the justice of deserved rewards -- karma, you might say. The ultimate triumph is love -- i.e., how Emma has suffered so much shit that it's a miracle she has the will to feel love toward another person.

The novel opens with Emma's father on his deathbed. Despite the loving care of the rest of their traveling troupe, he's determined to send Emma to her maternal grandmother. Emma's journey between the circus & the farm brings her into contact with a young clergyman named Henry, who is also traveling to an unknown future as he starts his first pastoral job. Though Emma is 7 & Henry is 24, they are immediately drawn to one another (at this point it's a fatherly affection -- don't freak out :P) & so begins the start of a lifelong friendship-turned-love.

Unfortunately, Emma's farm life is much less rewarding. Her grandmother is under the thumb of a particularly bitchy mistress & her husband. An incident between Emma & the local aristocracy brings her to the attention of an aging lord -- a crusty invalid who enjoys reliving past hunting glories while Emma shows off her fancy tricks with whips & knives. But that protection dies with her benefactor. Emma grows into her teenage years while working like a plough horse & suffering the disgust of her mistress & the company of her mistress's four sons. One is a psychopath (Luke); another is gentle (Barney); the third is an enigma who dies young, while the last (Pete) becomes a positive character, but not until midway through. Even after Emma's HEA (which doesn't arrive until the last three pages), the farm's future rests with aforementioned Pete, sweet-cheeked stablehand Jimmy, & their newly-married wives; our heroine wants nothing further to do with the place, & nobody can blame her.

Sandwiched between Emma's disastrous marriage to Barney (to be fair, it's not his fault) & Luke's continual menace to life & limb, we have cholera epidemics, unrequited love, daughters entering into prostitution, & near-terminal angst. I certainly wasn't expecting this much lustiness in my first Cookson novel -- she has a reputation for being so 'old fashioned' & behind-closed-doors, but that wasn't my impression of this particular novel. Yes, the sex is glossed over...but there's plenty of lustiness & perversion that's made clear, whether visually or in dialogue -- ped0bear aristocrats, whipping, violence, insanity, mutilation, child labor, child prostitution, brothels, inter-family homicide, & possible uncle/niece incest. Everyone & their brother suffers personal trauma in this story, with the possible exceptions of Pete & Jimmy, who suffer vicariously through Emma's distress.

It ain't a pretty story, folks. It's a throwback to ye old Victorian novels -- the sort where everything terrible can & does happen, but somehow there's (barely) a happy ending.

EDIT, 2018: I did enjoy The Whip...sort of...so I'll keep my original rating & review. But over the years I've come to prefer more of a roller-coaster read with balanced highs & lows, rather than the continual downtrodden death march that this author adored. After the agony of 2 other Cooksons, I've since sworn off her books & given this one away. >:P

[Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just don't know how to rate/review this one.
If your looking for a "historical romance" this isn't it.
If your looking for a "Heroine" that rises above all that is thrown at her..well yes you'll get that, but be prepared she goes through hell and back..throughout the whole book.
This was a very dark, disturbing, "what the hell else can happen to her? read"
Luke beating the crap out of her was the hardest part, I almost gave it up.
This book is not for the light of heart..it will weigh you down.
So why did I rate it at 4 stars?
The writing. It was amazing, It keep me turning pages, I had to know the outcome.
A good book is that..when it sucks you in and as much as your uncomfortable with whats going on..
ya cant put it down.
Not happy with the ending..I wanted more..but liked the "Epilogue"
I just finished another book by this author..not as gloomy but still, lots of "hardship crap"
I don't think I will read another of her books..drudgery, doom & gloom no matter how well written is not an "escape read" for this reader.

[Jane Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma...orphaned at age 7, the product of a loving mother and Spanish born carnival performer is the central character. Her only remaining memory is of the mastery of the whip and throwing of knives that her father used in his performance. She soon finds herself shipped off to her Granny (her father's dying wish) where she hopes to find a loving family. It quickly becomes clear that the life her Granny leads does not provide time for expressions of love. She works hard on the farm, longs for the few times when her Granny expresses her love and lives for her visits with the Parson and his friend Ralph, an artist. Emma finds herself falling in love with the Parson and he with her but they are separated by a 20year difference in age and circumstance. Her life is full of hardships and yet the book did not depress me as I saw a fighting spirit in her that I knew would eventually lead to her freedom versus obligation. Catherine Cookson does a wonderful job of leading the reader back in time, developing the characters into living beings, and threading hope through dismal circumstances. An old book...but very enjoyable.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a sad timeline of a hardworking, strong woman. Definitely some weirdness going on here, nothing terrible, nothing great.

[Luka Onee-san · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a second book I am reading by this author and I start to understand the pattern. Kill the second male lead so the female lead can stay with the male lead.
It's hard to believe Catherine wrote about fictional people, because they all are so relatable. Even the villains. It feels like she was just sitting there, watching what was going on and putting it all on paper. I truly admire her writing. I just dislike that she gives her female leads to other men and then kills them off for the "happy ending".

[Shirley Revill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Storytelling at it's best. recommended.

[Tom Hooker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Someone had once told Emma Molinero that she was made for trouble, and certainly it had dogged her steps from childhood onwards. Her earliest memories were of life with one of the many traveling shows - part fair and part circus - that toured the shires at the dawn of the Victorian era. But It 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 Country Durham. With her she took the whips and knives used with such dexterity by her father for his act and for which she had an inherited skill: a strange legacy that would play a significant part in shaping Emma's destiny.
Spanning the middle decades of the nineteenth century, The Whip is one Of Catherine Cookson's most powerful novels, rich in character and incident and featuring Emma as one of her most endearing heroines.

[Mookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Listen, no one likes Cookson better than me. But the fuss she makes. Good god. I'm starting to see her as somewhat machiavellian. And sadistic. Someone who likes sticking pins into dolls. Or rather, this might just be me getting annoyed at the Cookson formula, which I love and hate. She has two types, one for her sagas and one for her non-sagas. I consider it to be a saga when there's a new generation involved.

[Michelle Conn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first Catherine Cookson book I ever read, and the one that introduced me to my love of her books :)

[Margaux Tatin Blanc]

Catherine Cookson writes books that are infused with the misery forced upon the working classes of England 19th century and also the people working the land...
So whatever is the romantic story that seems to be the main reason of the book, for me it is the detailed description of life on a farm and the class relations in a little town that interested me in this book...
She often uses "Spanish" origins as a symbol of exotism and "difference" (and sexy)
How the British react to "different" is a source of interest that it is in Cookson or in Agatha Christie's Poirot stories...
She is also sensitive to the issue of women in a world that was definitely at the time a world ruled by white men. They write the rules, they pass the laws, they own the places, and they also think they own the body of women and that they can grab them and use them whenever they want in whatever way they want...
and there are little enough women stories written by women that Cookson was for a long time the author the most read in British libraries...

[Bonnie Gleckler Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life is for the living

Though she knows nothing of it, at the beginning of this story, Emma Molinari will have quite a life. After loosing both her Mother and then a few years later her father, she is sent away to live with her maternal Grandmother. The only items Emma has to take with her are the knives and whips her father use in his circus act.

Emma’s granny lives in a small cottage on a farm and works there as if she is a indentured slave. Life on the Yorkless Farm is unbearable at most times. But though Emma is a bit timid she works hard and she makes a few friends. One who initially gives her a ride to her new home, the new Pastor Henry Granger.

This is Emma’s story, it’s not for the weak at heart. We meet a few other memorable characters along the way, including Granny, Ralph, the Yorkless boys (Luke, Barney, Dan, and Pete), Mr. and Mrs. Yorkless, and others.

Read this story for our June 2018 bookclub selection.

[Jane Woodcock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always start a Catherine Cookson book with ' Oh another Catherine Cookson, lets get started then. But nearly always REALLY enjoy them, and this one was one of them. It started off good, then got better, and then, I didn't want it to end. It was quite disturbing at times and never dull. Well written with a heartfelt ending.

[Nicole Kutlesa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book after reading a snippet of it in my grandmothers Reader's Digest when I was 13 or so (I am now 49). As a young teen this book was traumatizing but has stuck with me for all these years as one of my favourite good reads. I love a good "heroine rises above" story and this is definitely a good example of that!

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Catherine Cookson's finest works in my opinion. It had me enthralled from the first to the last page. A lot of authors have tried to imitate her writing and story lines but there will never be another Catherine. Highly recommended.

[Ileen Gallegos · Rating 3 out of 5]

She did it again. This book kept me interested. So hard to put down. I love the romance novels from the early 1900s.

[Lorena Living Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too many suffering and too little reward in the book. But it was a nice story.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always, a great story from this author.

[Olnega · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a powerhouse of a book. Perhaps, too much harsh reality at times but it’s well balanced with heroines strength and ability to endure life’s blows.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I was a bit let down. The story dwelt on the unhappiness and sorrow and drudgery of Emma's life and, when it finally had a chance for some happiness, the book ended. I thought I was reading a Dickens novel.
Cookson is a superb storyteller, I just didn't like this one. It was weighed down with sad choices and hard people.

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read all of Catherine Cookson's books some years ago and enjoyed them immensley. I recently re-read all of them and find that on a second look I found them all so very predictable, and was rather disappointed. However I'm sure that it is my tastes that have changed not the calibre of her story telling.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars, found myself really liking this historical fiction based on a real character, charley parkerhurst, a woman living as a man. the plot has everything: child abuse, gender discrimination, and racial prejudice, at first the "just the facts" style bothered me, but I learned the author was a reporter. easy reading.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As in most of Cookson's books she writes with strong female characters overcoming some miserable circumstance or misfortune. I also love the English accents given her characters. If you like books set in old England and well developed characters, you will enjoy books by Catherine Cookson!

[Alyson]

Pretty much my least favorite book EVER. Can't believe I made it to the end. Can't believe this author is published or acclaimed. Joyless, relentless, heartless, depressing. This will be my last Catherine Cookson book.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Whip, Catherine Cookson, RDC-M #2-83, 1984. The orphaned daughter of a carnival performer, Emma learned to perform with whips, which makes her a mysterious fascination to the townspeople. Very good.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. The story moves along apace and the heroine is engaging. It's an easy way to get a bit of social history too. The suffering and drudgery of the Victorians is something that makes one appreciate how easy life is these days.

[Janet Richards]

Another book I remember reading in HS.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A farmer and a parson are in love with the same woman.

[Tisha Prusak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not superbly written but an easy read on a rare topic. Enjoyable read.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One I missed years ago. The great author Catherine Cookson.

[Lynn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable read, well written and with an engaging heroine.