The Hamilton Trilogy

by Catherine Cookson

Maisie could never be quite Sure when she met up with Hamilton; most likely, it was when she started talking to herself as an often lonely seven-year-old. Hamilton, an imaginary horse, had to remain a secret for many years, for what Would people think of Maisie if she revealed that the only friend she had was a horse who acted as her guide, philosopher and confidant Life was difficult enough for Maisie without that, and increasingly so as she grew to womanhood and became a wife. But if she could not talk about Hamilton, she could at least write about him. And write she did, with results that would broaden her horizons far beyond her native Tyneside. Collected together in one volume for the first time, the three Hamilton novels tell a story in which Catherine Cookson blends humour and pathos to irresistible effect.

Genres: Fiction

909 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

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.