What do you think?
Rate this book
TO BE A LADY
To be a Story of Catherine Cookson Goodwin, Cliff
- GenresNonfictionBiography
326 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 11, 2017
I love reading biographies, especially about writers. It gives another dimension to their work, you can see what has inspired them and how they use their own experiences in life to give us wonderful stories. One of the most interesting writers in this regard must be Catherine Cookson.
I remember reading and loving her books when I was young, but have not read any for ages. It was with great interest I started Cliff Goodwin's account on her life, of which I must admit, I did not know anything. What a fantastic surprise! You sometimes say that reality exceeds any fiction, and here you have the proof. To read Goodwin's biography of Catherine Cookson is like reading one of her books. It is interesting, exciting, thrilling and amazing. What a life, what a deed. I am full of admiration for this wonderful lady.
One of the most important happenings in her life is actually her birth. She was born out of wedlock and it was a matter that affected her whole life. She kept it secret for many years. It might seem a trivial thing for us, today, but at the time it was considered a foul thing.
She grew up as Catherine McMullen and her childhood was poor. She lived with her mother at her grandparents in South Tyneside in the North East of England. The grandfather, working in the mine, had the main income of the house, but it was mostly wasted away on drinking. Drinking was a big, but maybe natural, problem of the days, and it included her mother. Seeing the dire future for people, one does not wonder that they tried to forget their problems by looking too deep in the bottle.
We learn that the father probably came from an educated family. Maybe that is why Catherine from an early age was interested in reading, which, as she grew up, made her want to write herself. She saved a penny wherever she could and bought books to read. She started writing short stories already in her youth, and even sent some of them to papers, without success. She realised that grammar and educational background was lacking in her efforts to go for a profession of writing.
She left school already at 14. It was the normal age at the time, when children had to help support the family. After a couple of domestic places she took a laundry job at the Harton Workhouse in South Shields. She saved most of her salary, to buy books and made an effort to read books to improve her knowledge. Some years later she moved to another workhouse in Hastings, where she took her saved money, bought a huge house and kept lodgers.
Now her life took a turn to the better. She meets a teacher, Tom Cookson, who was a lodger with her mother. They discover already from the beginning of their relationship that they are soul mates in all things. With the help of Tom's educated mind she reads, learns and discuss all topics and he is drawn in by her energy and positiveness. They are a match made in heaven. He moves in as her lodger, but it takes a couple of years before they marry.
After four miscarriages it was discovered that she suffered from a rare disease, telangiectasia, possibly inherited from her unknown father. It causes bleeding from the nose, fingers and stomach and results in anemia. She had suffered from nose bleeds all her life and here was the reason. She fell into a depression which lasted a decade. To do something she started writing and joined the Hastings Writers' Group. This led to the publication of her first book, Kate Hannigan, when she was 41. Once she started writing there was not way stopping her. She must be one of the most productive writers ever and wrote a number of novels every years.
She became immensely popular, but kept her private life private. Tom and Catherine answered all the fan posts personally, which over the time became quite a lot of work. Catherine Cookson wrote almost 100 books, sold more than 123 million copies and had her novels translated into at least 20 languages. She also wrote under the pseudonym Catherine Marchant. Her books were the most borrowed from public libraries in the UK for 17 years. She died in 1998.
Goodwin's biography finishes when she was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993. I find the biography a marvellous account on a marvellous life. Her life had everything, poverty/riches, sadness/happiness, various diseases that affected her life. But above all she had the gift to write, to reach out to people, to tell a good story. Not only a story, but stories based on real life. She did not want her books to be referred to as romances, which was often the case. "No", she said, "they are historical fiction". Goodwin transfers a life well lived, into an exciting and thrilling account of Catherine Cookson's life. It was quite difficult to put the book down. Above, I have just chosen to highlight small parts of her life, and the biography contains so much more. One is full of admiration for this lady, who fought all her life against her demons, depressions and diseases, and still managed to bring so much happiness to others.
I received a copy of this e-book from Endeavour Press in exchange for a fair and impartial review.
I remember reading and loving her books when I was young, but have not read any for ages. It was with great interest I started Cliff Goodwin's account on her life, of which I must admit, I did not know anything. What a fantastic surprise! You sometimes say that reality exceeds any fiction, and here you have the proof. To read Goodwin's biography of Catherine Cookson is like reading one of her books. It is interesting, exciting, thrilling and amazing. What a life, what a deed. I am full of admiration for this wonderful lady.
One of the most important happenings in her life is actually her birth. She was born out of wedlock and it was a matter that affected her whole life. She kept it secret for many years. It might seem a trivial thing for us, today, but at the time it was considered a foul thing.
She grew up as Catherine McMullen and her childhood was poor. She lived with her mother at her grandparents in South Tyneside in the North East of England. The grandfather, working in the mine, had the main income of the house, but it was mostly wasted away on drinking. Drinking was a big, but maybe natural, problem of the days, and it included her mother. Seeing the dire future for people, one does not wonder that they tried to forget their problems by looking too deep in the bottle.
We learn that the father probably came from an educated family. Maybe that is why Catherine from an early age was interested in reading, which, as she grew up, made her want to write herself. She saved a penny wherever she could and bought books to read. She started writing short stories already in her youth, and even sent some of them to papers, without success. She realised that grammar and educational background was lacking in her efforts to go for a profession of writing.
She left school already at 14. It was the normal age at the time, when children had to help support the family. After a couple of domestic places she took a laundry job at the Harton Workhouse in South Shields. She saved most of her salary, to buy books and made an effort to read books to improve her knowledge. Some years later she moved to another workhouse in Hastings, where she took her saved money, bought a huge house and kept lodgers.
Now her life took a turn to the better. She meets a teacher, Tom Cookson, who was a lodger with her mother. They discover already from the beginning of their relationship that they are soul mates in all things. With the help of Tom's educated mind she reads, learns and discuss all topics and he is drawn in by her energy and positiveness. They are a match made in heaven. He moves in as her lodger, but it takes a couple of years before they marry.
After four miscarriages it was discovered that she suffered from a rare disease, telangiectasia, possibly inherited from her unknown father. It causes bleeding from the nose, fingers and stomach and results in anemia. She had suffered from nose bleeds all her life and here was the reason. She fell into a depression which lasted a decade. To do something she started writing and joined the Hastings Writers' Group. This led to the publication of her first book, Kate Hannigan, when she was 41. Once she started writing there was not way stopping her. She must be one of the most productive writers ever and wrote a number of novels every years.
She became immensely popular, but kept her private life private. Tom and Catherine answered all the fan posts personally, which over the time became quite a lot of work. Catherine Cookson wrote almost 100 books, sold more than 123 million copies and had her novels translated into at least 20 languages. She also wrote under the pseudonym Catherine Marchant. Her books were the most borrowed from public libraries in the UK for 17 years. She died in 1998.
Goodwin's biography finishes when she was elevated to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1993. I find the biography a marvellous account on a marvellous life. Her life had everything, poverty/riches, sadness/happiness, various diseases that affected her life. But above all she had the gift to write, to reach out to people, to tell a good story. Not only a story, but stories based on real life. She did not want her books to be referred to as romances, which was often the case. "No", she said, "they are historical fiction". Goodwin transfers a life well lived, into an exciting and thrilling account of Catherine Cookson's life. It was quite difficult to put the book down. Above, I have just chosen to highlight small parts of her life, and the biography contains so much more. One is full of admiration for this lady, who fought all her life against her demons, depressions and diseases, and still managed to bring so much happiness to others.
I received a copy of this e-book from Endeavour Press in exchange for a fair and impartial review.
December 1, 2015
Catherine Cookson is one of my favourite authors. I love the way she wove her stories and the characters she created. This book begins before Catherine was born and examines her family's life as far back as her grandparents and where they lived in the north of England.
Catherine's early life was confusing and interrupted by house moves, family arguments and finding out that she wasn't who she thought she was. The book is full of interview extracts with Catherine and her husband Tom. These add to the depth of research done to produce this book.
The interviews give an insight into how Catherine began writing, why she wrote what she did, and how she managed to continue her amazing output when she became ill. Tom's interviews help you see Catherine from the eyes of the man who loved her.
If you enjoy Catherine's work and want to find out more about her then I recommend this book. The amount of research that has been done is staggering and the interviews add another dimension to the book.
Catherine's early life was confusing and interrupted by house moves, family arguments and finding out that she wasn't who she thought she was. The book is full of interview extracts with Catherine and her husband Tom. These add to the depth of research done to produce this book.
The interviews give an insight into how Catherine began writing, why she wrote what she did, and how she managed to continue her amazing output when she became ill. Tom's interviews help you see Catherine from the eyes of the man who loved her.
If you enjoy Catherine's work and want to find out more about her then I recommend this book. The amount of research that has been done is staggering and the interviews add another dimension to the book.
October 30, 2019
A very interesting book about the author Catherine Cookson.
December 22, 2019
This is a wonderful book on Catherine and Tom Cookson's wonderful life and love for each other
July 6, 2023
A highly readable book about a very interesting woman. A bit heavy on the adulation, but perhaps she deserves it.
September 25, 2015
To be a Lady: Story of Catherine Cookson
by Cliff Goodwin
Endeavour Press
Biographies & Memoirs
Pub Date Sep 11, 2015
Catherine Cookson was born in June of 1906. Catherine first attended a school that had far from satisfactory conditions, with poor ventilation often freezing and unsatisfactory conditions, but Catherine was always an inquisitive child.
From a young age Catherine knew she was different her Mother was not married and she really did not know her Father. Before she was even eight years old Catherine carried both the burden and the guilt of an adult.
On December 13 1917 Catherine’s Grandmother died at the age of fifty nine. In the winter of 1919 and 1920 Catherine suffered from a leg injury that would plague her for the rest of her life.
On November 28, 1940 Catherine gave birth to a son who was still born and three months early. During 1943 Catherine became pregnant for a third time this one leading to a miscarriage doctors warned her after this another pregnancy would end in death. After a series of miscarriages Catherine became so depressed she began contemplating suicide. Catherine first began seriously writing by trying to put her Mother’s life to paper. In 1950 Catherine’s first novel Kate Hannigan was published. By the mid 1950’s even the Queen Mother was a fan of Catherine Cookson.
If you love to read stories of people overcoming early difficulties then To Be A Lady is a book I would highly recommend.
I give this book five out of five stars…
Happy Reading…
by Cliff Goodwin
Endeavour Press
Biographies & Memoirs
Pub Date Sep 11, 2015
Catherine Cookson was born in June of 1906. Catherine first attended a school that had far from satisfactory conditions, with poor ventilation often freezing and unsatisfactory conditions, but Catherine was always an inquisitive child.
From a young age Catherine knew she was different her Mother was not married and she really did not know her Father. Before she was even eight years old Catherine carried both the burden and the guilt of an adult.
On December 13 1917 Catherine’s Grandmother died at the age of fifty nine. In the winter of 1919 and 1920 Catherine suffered from a leg injury that would plague her for the rest of her life.
On November 28, 1940 Catherine gave birth to a son who was still born and three months early. During 1943 Catherine became pregnant for a third time this one leading to a miscarriage doctors warned her after this another pregnancy would end in death. After a series of miscarriages Catherine became so depressed she began contemplating suicide. Catherine first began seriously writing by trying to put her Mother’s life to paper. In 1950 Catherine’s first novel Kate Hannigan was published. By the mid 1950’s even the Queen Mother was a fan of Catherine Cookson.
If you love to read stories of people overcoming early difficulties then To Be A Lady is a book I would highly recommend.
I give this book five out of five stars…
Happy Reading…
June 13, 2015
I mostly enjoyed reading this book, it certainly gave an insight on the life of Mrs Cookson. What I missed a bit was some sort connecting text between the phases/events of her life - my impression was it jumped from one event to the other, without letting the reader know what happened in between, especially when describing her childhood. Also, sometimes jumping in between times I found a bit confusing and had to turn back a couple of pages.
The narration style was good and fluent, and there was hardly any spelling error in the whole book, which is a big plus for me.
All in all, an informative narration which I did enjoy reading.
The narration style was good and fluent, and there was hardly any spelling error in the whole book, which is a big plus for me.
All in all, an informative narration which I did enjoy reading.
October 21, 2015
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers, Endeavour, for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest and open review.
I grew up surrounded by Catherine Cookson's books as my mum was an avid fan.
As I got older, I too developed a love for her books.
I grew up in the North East of England, so many of the places she wrote about were familiar to me.
Cliff Goodwin has written a beautiful books which describes her life, both the highs and the lows.
It is a perfect epitaph for a great lady.
I grew up surrounded by Catherine Cookson's books as my mum was an avid fan.
As I got older, I too developed a love for her books.
I grew up in the North East of England, so many of the places she wrote about were familiar to me.
Cliff Goodwin has written a beautiful books which describes her life, both the highs and the lows.
It is a perfect epitaph for a great lady.
December 20, 2016
An interesting book about the life of Catherine Cookson, prolific author of gritty stories set in the north-east of England. I have never particularly liked her books because they always depressed me, and now I know why! Her books mirrored her life.
Did Not Finish
December 31, 2015DNF at page 255
August 24, 2021
Favourite author of all time read all her books
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews