Katie Mulholland

by Catherine Cookson

As the daughter of a mining family, Katie Mulholland is forced to find work as a scullery maid in the house of the Rosiers. But the beautiful young girl soon captures the eye of her employer’s evil son, who rapes her and leaves her pregnant.Quick to dismiss Katie, the family forces her into a loveless marriage with the cruel manager of the Rosier mines. But Katie’s fate changes course when one man offers her the opportunity to make her own fortune, and to discover real love . . .Spanning Katie’s life from 1860 to the height of WWII, this is a spellbinding, triumphant, timeless drama from the pen of a brilliantly skilled storyteller.

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

Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

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

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Cookson's tales of northern England were a part of my growing up. I have many on my 'keeper' shelf and have read many of my favourites by her, over and over again. She was a South Tyneside lass, illegitimate and born into abject poverty with a 'sister' she later discovered was her mother. Most of her stories are based on the people and places she was familar with. Her stories are gritty, shocking, sometimes sad but always real and compelling, and it is obvious that the poverty she writes of has been inspired by and lived through, not just researched. There is always the obligatory happy ending, but it is not easily reached. Ms.Cookson's characters are, in my opinion always far more realistic than the norm - very few hearts and roses for her heroes/heroines. And one of the things I have always loved about her writing is that these heroes and heroines are not always beautiful or classically handsome - often they are working men and women who have suffered hardships and misery but who almost always triumph over adversity.

Katie Mulholland spans a period of some eighty odd years, beginning when Katie is just fifteen and has been working as a scullery maid at 'the big house' owned by the local landowners and coal mining family, the Rosiers. The tenants and workers of the Rosiers are treated abominably, they live in houses not fit for animals, work in the family mine, and even have to spend their hard earned 'brass' (money) on groceries at vastly inflated costs at the company shop. Katie is considered by her cohorts to be lucky not to be working down the mine or in the local rope works. A beautiful, sunny natured child, she is adored by her family and every fortnight, her trip across the moors on her afternoon off brings light into their soul destroying existence. Then one day Katie is brought home in disgrace, she is pregnant and will not name the father of her child for fear of what will happen when her father retaliates; as she knows he will. Bernard Rosier, the eldest son, raped her on the night of his engagement ball and, fearing the repercussions should his fiancée's powerful family discover his perfidy, forces Katie into marriage with the mine supervisor, Mark Bunting, a man who is despised by the pit men. He holds the miner's livelihoods in the palm of his hand and by marrying him, Katie will earn the derision of the local people. She marries against the wishes of her family, thinking to save them, but as it turns out, nothing can stop the terrible and tragic series of events which sees Katie and her family on the road with her baby daughter. By now Katie has become the lynchpin of her family. Like children, they all look to her for guidance, and eventually, because of the overwhelming love she feels for them and also the guilt as a result of her pregnancy, she is forced into making a heart-rending decision which will have far reaching consequences. She may think that she has left the Rosier family behind, but her life is inextricably linked with them forever.

Katie meets and eventually marries a Swedish/Danish ship's captain, Andree Franenkel, whom she calls Andy and, through him becomes a rich and powerful woman. But again and again, her life is touched by the vindictive and tyrannical Bernard Rosier who holds her accountable for every ill that has ever befallen him and refers to her as 'the Mullholland woman'.

Katherine Cookson's characters, are real, down-to-earth and intuitively developed. Bernard Rosier, though initially handsome and powerful, degenerates into a dissolute, menacing and frightening monster and each time he made an appearance I was on the edge of my seat. Katie is a beautiful and talented young women, but no matter how powerful she becomes, she never quite conquers her fear of Bernard Rossier and such is the power of Catherine Cookson's writing that we, the reader, feel that fear, which is palpable and overshadows Katie's entire life. Andy is just adorable, large, blonde, bearded and older than her by some sixteen years, he is utterly captivated by her from the first night he meets her. It is Andy who is Katie's salvation and it is he who recognises that the only way he can help his 'Kaa-tee' kick poverty and her fear of Bernard Rossier is by making her rich and powerful and sets out to do just that - and succeeds with amazing results.

Susan Jameson, a British actress of some repute, is absolutely superb as the narrator of Katie Mulholland and handles the large cast of male and female characters, northern dialect, upper classes and - later on in the story - an American, with aplomb. I don't believe that there is another actress who could capture and hold without wavering, and without putting a foot wrong, the dialects, humour and characters through almost twenty one hours of narration in the way that she does. Considering that this story spans such a long period, Katie's voice goes from a youthful fifteen year old, through to a very old lady and Susan Jameson adapts her own tone and timbre to take account of this ageing process whilst still making Katie very recognisable. Andy's English, spoken with a strong Scandinavian accent and an undoubtedly male, deeper intonation, is superbly done and the all consuming love he feels for his 'Kaa-tee' shines through and is really quite moving at times; even the jaunty sailor in him is apparent.

I just loved this feast of a book, one of Catherine Cookson's earlier novels, first published in the 1960s. Susan Jameson brings it to glittering life with her very talented acting skills; this is no light listen and it is one which will probably leave the listener feeling wrung-out. Nevertheless I highly recommend it. There are more and more of this author's books becoming available in audio, all narrated by Susan Jameson and I am holding my breath and waiting for two all time favourites to become available - The Dwelling Place and Kate Hannigan.

[Renee Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary!

I have only recently discovered Catherine Cookson. She is an extraordinary story teller. The characters are complex and memorable. I wouldn't want it any other way because I'm very reluctant to let them go. If you enjoy family sagas, don't miss this one. It captivated me from the first page to the last.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just arrived from UK through BM.

Katie Mulholland is a daughter of a miner who at an age of 15 years old went to work as a scullery maid in the house of the Rosier in order to support her family.

However, his life takes a turn as Bernard Rosier, heir to the Rosier family, charmed by its beauty decided to rape her.

This book chronicles the saga of Katie in a period that begins in 1860 and ends in 1944, with a vivid description of her obsession by Rosier family that intertwines the lives of her family as much as she strives to move away from this harmful influences.

Catherine Cookson is a master of storyteller and that's why I love these books written by the "old" ladies writers.

[Sheila Kazmierczak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book at least 3 times and it brings me to tears in the same places each time. The late Catherine Cookson is still high among my favorite authors. Katie Muholland's story represents nearly a hundred years of social and economic change in the pattern of English life, set in the harsh life of mid-Victorian Tyneside and the shipyards.

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Katie Mulholland, the young scullery maid at a grand house, finds her life thrown into a tailspin when she is assaulted by her employer on the night of his engagement ball.

I have an inexplicable love of old mass market paperbacks - especially pulpy books that originally sold for about a dollar that I never heard of before. So when my friend informed me that my local bookstore had an entire subterranean secondhand section, I obviously set off in search of most obscure, yellowing books I could find.

Katie Mulholland reminded me a lot of two more well-known family sagas - A Woman of Substance, for the main characters' similar backgrounds, and The Thorn Birds for all the absurd tragedies befell this family. But Katie's story brings into play the interesting themes of generational trauma, though it's of course not termed such, with Katie's rape coming to affect even her great-grandchildrens' lives. I also enjoyed the vivid writing and the ways in which Cookson ensures we see how complex every character is.

However, the amount of incest in this book shocked me - surely everyone didn't have to be attracted to their cousins? The number of babies conceived through a single act of intercourse was also somewhat shocking. There's so many unlikely things happening for the sake of drama that it began to make my suspension of disbelief flag. I also felt less invested in the couples that came after Katie and Andree, maybe because less time was spent developing their characters and relationships.

[Elodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of all time. I have a green leather bound autographed copy and have read it many times over the years. She never disappoints. It may be rags to riches but many twists along the way will keep you enthralled.

[Sarah]

Given up.

[Shirley Revill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another exceptional book by Catherine Cookson. Storytelling at it's best.

[Cara Rees · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’ve never read a Catherine Cookson novel, this is the book to start with. There are obviously many, ‘rags to riches’ books available but when it comes to telling this kind of story, Catherine is the Queen. What I also love is that she always paints a historical back drop - It just makes her novels so much more rounded.

This particular novel covers the whole life of Katie Mulholland. Do not be put off by the book size, it is easy to read and quite manageable. Katie lives a very turbulent life, one which kept me reading on and on. However to me it was Andy that stole the show. I loved him! Oh Andy! 😂
He was such a good character I felt a loss at his exit.

The last third of the book lost it’s way a little from his departure and onwards but it really is still worthy of a four star review.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the story of Katie Mulholland, born to a mining family in the Tyneside area, from the 1860s right through to WWII. The thing that captures me with Catherine Cookson's novels is the great historical insight they provide into the hardships and poverty of the times, and what they reveal about the living conditions and social setting. Katie suffers at the hands of the rich family she is employed by, being raped by the son Bernard Rosier, which forces her into an unwanted pregnancy, and a brutal, abusive marriage. The two become lifelong enemies as their paths and that of their descendants continue to cross.

Katie's is somewhat of a typical rags to riches story, as she moves from abject poverty, and through her relationship with a Swedish sea captain Andy, becomes a wealthy property owner. I enjoyed the sociohistorical aspect of this book, but found the characters to be very black and white: they were either strictly in the category of evil villain or courageous heroine overcoming adversity. There were few nuanced or complex characters.

Overall a pleasant light read, although rather long, and the audiobook was well narrated.

[Laura Blodgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have rarely read a more depressing book. I am very disappointed because people have recommended Catherine Cookson's stories so highly, but if they are like this one, I have better things to fill my mind with. This was one long drawn out story of a victim who never really took charge of her life, and when she did she made was manipulative. I understand that people have suffered many things due to the selfishness and arrogance of others, but to listen to it for hours, hoping for some resolution, then to be left with that ending has left me feeling like I need a long drink of something refreshing.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I had a little trouble getting into this book - only because I had just finished The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose - which also took place in that late 1800's/early 1900's era.
But once I got a little ways into the book and caught up in the characters then I couldn't put it down and hated to see it end...
I definitely will read another Catherine Cookson book!!!!!!!!!

[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.

[Judith Wrinkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My very first book by Cookson and she made me a fan. I love her way of making History come alive and she has an excellent relationship with her characters. This was a great book.

[Ingrid Fasquelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catherine Cookson (1906-1998), née au nord-est de l'Angleterre, est la fille illégitime d'une femme qu'elle prenait pour sa sœur aînée. La pauvreté, l'exploitation de la classe ouvrière et l'emprise de la religion lui laisseront une empreinte qu'elle gardera toute sa vie. À quarante ans, elle commence à écrire un roman qui dépeint les conditions de vie de ces milieux défavorisés et devient l'une des romancières les plus estimées. Elle est anoblie en 1986. Avec plus de 130 millions d'exemplaires vendus, 104 romans à son actif, traduits dans 25 langues, elle est l'un des monuments de la littérature anglaise.
L’impossible amour de Katie Mulholland est une intrigue familiale qui se tisse sur plusieurs générations. Des années 1860 jusqu’à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, cette immense fresque dépeint les conditions de vie des milieux les plus pauvres et dénonce les injustices d’une société patriarcale envers les plus défavorisés, dont les femmes font malheureusement partie.
Exploitée, confrontée à la violence, à l’injustice puis au dénuement le plus total, la jeune Katie Mulholland connaîtra un destin chaotique mais la vie lui réserve bien des surprises... Courageuse, honnête et droite, c’est au fond de son cœur que Katie puisera l’espoir d’accéder enfin au bonheur qu’elle mérite tant.
Dans cette saga familiale qui témoigne d’une maîtrise romanesque rare et souligne la fragilité de la vie et du bonheur, Catherine Cookson donne vie à une constellation de personnages inoubliables. On y trouve le récit de vies minuscules et insignifiantes mais aussi l’incroyable destinée d’êtres au caractère entier, bouillonnants d’amour et de colère. C’est passionnant !
Entre amours contrariés, liens familiaux indéfectibles, vengeances et rivalités amères, le roman de Catherine Cookson résume parfaitement les vicissitudes d’une famille et, plus largement, d’une société profondément injuste, faites d’inégalités, de pauvreté et d’exclusion, en proie à des codes et des exigences morales incroyablement restrictives. Au faste et à la démesure des grandes familles bourgeoises s’opposent la chaleur et la générosité d’ouvriers fiers et forts, tout dévoués à leur vie de labeur. On y découvre leurs conditions de vie difficiles, pénibles, à côté desquels le luxe et l’insouciance contraste avec insolence ! C’est profondément révoltant !
En cela, L’impossible amour de Katie Mulholland se réclame davantage d’un document d’histoire. Bien plus qu’une romance qui entremêle les destins croisés de personnages victimes de scandales, de vengeance et de passions coupables, il s’agit d’un formidable témoignage historique, politique et social d’une Angleterre en marche vers la modernité. Une véritable perle taillée sur mesure par l’une des auteurs les plus reconnus en Angleterre !

[Lou Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion is one of her best. This novel, to me, clarifies why Dame Catherine achieved the status that she did.
My love for Catherine Cookson was born from watching the television depictions, decades ago. I’m so very glad that I did, because her tales have an undiluted rawness, often shockingly so, that bring some of the harshness of the era in which she writes right to the fore. How people lived and their values - often led by inate survival instinct - rather takes your breath away. Seeing television depictions in advance of reading did serve as something of preparation for the stories.
I started reading her books in this last decade ….. Katie Mulholland was one I’d never seen depicted on tv and it had me again breathless. But Catherine seems also to hone in on every emotion of the characters that she writes about, so much so that I the reader wholly felt them. I never get the feeling that she writes (wrote) to shock, or sensationalise. Rather, simply bringing the emotion of how it was; which never fails to fill me with gratitude for my life in this day! But how she weaves it all together - in this particular story - impresses me so. Albeit incredibly long - which incidentally was IMO quite important as it spans 80 years - it’s absolutely worth staying with it and enjoying every page.
Brilliant story telling. 👏🏾👏🏾

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic book about a boy whose father goes missing - presumed beset in the frozen waters around Greenland on a whaling trip, and his son's determination to find him. He stows away on another whaling ship, makes a dangerous enemy, and learns that he has an amazing ability. Over time he overcomes adversity and adventure, all in the quest for the father he loves.

This book has some excellent qualities. the writing is engrossing and vivid. You feel like you are on board the ship with young Murphy, and you want to be there.

Whaling these days is very much unacceptable, so a stroy about whalers seems like an odd choice, but the reader is swept up into the story all the same. There is no silly modern informed sentimentality - just the hard facts of a bygone existence. And yet neither is the book cold and heartless. Indeed the book is very poignant in a number of places, and it would be a hard reader who did not blink away the occasional tear as they read this book.

My prediction is that any reader will learn a lot from this book - be it history or friendship or love. There is a lot to be gained from reading this first class work.

[Maria P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read a Catherine Cookson book since I was a teenager. I remember them always being very good historical stories so I thought I’d try one again as an audio and I wasn’t disappointed at all! It was very very good. The story was very full, lots happened, lots of characters and lots of twists and turns until the final conclusion. It was very similar to the Deverill series by Santa Montefiore which I’ve read recently and I could imagine it being turned into another tv adaptation similar to Downton Abbey.
My only criticism is that towards the end it became very complicated in terms of who was what family connection. I’m not sure if there is a family tree in the physical book but it certainly could do with it (not that that would help the audio version). The book was also broken down into six ‘books’ and yet it was probably 2 books too long. The last 2 which jumped on quite a stage felt more rushed and tagged on and were not in my opinion as necessary. However it didn’t detract from the story overall for me and I shall definitely be looking out for more Catherine Cookson books again now I know I still enjoy them!

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this in a fit of filial piety: my mother adored Catherine Cookson's books but as a youth I wouldn't read them - rather snobbishly, I had come to feel. So I thought I'd give this a try.

Managed 50 pages before flinging it aside.

Cookson clearly had the storyteller's knack of setting up a group of characters who are in conflict with each other and themselves, so the reader's drawn into the disequilibrium and wants to know what's going to happen next. And she knows how to torment her sympathetic characters and to make her unsympathetic ones properly horrible. Given that, it doesn't much matter if the prose isn't great or elegant - though this is lazy and wordy and makes me wonder if it was dictated, rather than written down, and not afterwards revised.

But, Lawks, it’s clichéd: the grasping bad-tempered, tight-fisted debt-ridden mine-owner; one son at Oxford, the other fond of horses, hunting and drunken sexual violence; the free-thinking daughter; the social climbing mother; the abused scullery maid. Probably not as clichéd in 1967, when first published, as they are now but still woefully, predictably cardboard.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I've read several of her books lately. Very enjoyable and she tells it how it was: a desperately hard life for the poor, and little justice to be had unless you had money.

However, I could wish this character had more about to her. Katie was fearful all her life. I feel that things happened to her often because people fell in love with her (Theresa, Andree, and minor chars). But it was because of her beauty NOT because she had 'Jarrow steel' and/or a will to survive. Even the ending: it would have seemed more fitting if a Rosier had saved her (but that might have been difficult given the timeline).

Just a note: she didn't say what happened to Nils after his fight with Andree. Oh well

[Sallie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This really was a life long book. I loved following Katie from her terribly times as a scullery maid to her life as a grown woman. I became involved in her life, her loves and her tragedies. When finishing this book you felt as if Katie were truly real, like someone you knew. This book follows from the 1800's until Katie's death in the 1900s. You come to love her and pull for her and cry with her. It reminds me of a Victoria Holt novel but for adults instead of younger women. I would recommend Catherine Cookson to anyone who wants to be taken away to what we may think are simpler times but are also terribly hard.

[Jesslyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as good as I remember it. I took away a star because I felt the ending extended too long and didn't' have enough satisfaction for the way that it ended.

I highly recommend the audible version. The narrator, Susan Jameson, is one of the best narrators I've experienced. From accents to timing, she shined.

It's a shame that more of Cookson's books are not available via audio, but I'm grateful that I came across this one.

[Lynnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written when I was 16, and the author wrote over 90 books even in her 80's. The ones I have read are all good. Taking place in a poor mining town, a young girl considered lucky to get a job as a scullery maid in a rich house finds it's not such a lucky place after all. Her misfortunes keep
continuing, and I was wondering if she would ever get out of her messy circumstances... The book
tells the story of her life--- a good read.

[Miriam Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only ever watched TV versions of Catherine Cookson books in the past, which I thoroughly enjoyed as a young girl. After my elderly neighbour recently suggested this one I thought I would give the audiobook a go.

It is an excellent historical story with plenty of twists and turns would recommend and will certainly be reading another Catherine Cookson book soon.

[Amy Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite books of Catherine Cookson to date. I wish they’d done a tv adaptation of this.
The characters were good, and the storyline was gripping. For a large book it did take some putting down.
I did feel though that the ending for Katie was a little bit of a shame as felt for the life she’d had a nicer death could have been written for her.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first ready this Catherine Cookson classic back in the 70s- she was a favorite author of my mother and aunt. Her stories, set in England, are about women- and she tells great stories! This one spans the years from Katie as a scullery maid at an English manor house to her old age of 100- and all the experiences she has in between.

[Debra Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading about the plight of the poor working class against the gentry makes me grateful that I don't have the burden of that social inequity today. Historical fiction paints a picture of struggles to exist which we do not have today and for that I am grateful.

[Hayley Jones-Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as a young teen. I think I learned social history from Catherine Cookson & her descriptions of poverty as much as the school text books. The fiction brought the fact to life using unchallenging language.

[Nickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thick book but that I didn't want to put down. The life of Katie and most poor women in those days was really quite hard, that's for sure. I found it interesting and as the personalities of the characters are quite well described by the author, one is made to care about what happens to them.

[Yvvone Trigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good read, although the span of generations covered made it difficult at times to keep up! Typical Catherine Cookson's rags-to-riches plot but reminders of the struggles the poorer classes had to simply survive were powerful.