Catherine Cookson English writer Date of Birth: 20.06.1906 Country: Great Britain

1. Biography of Catherine Cookson
2. Early Life
3. Move South and Marriage
4. Struggles and Writing Career
5. Writing Style and Popularity
6. Later Life and Legacy

Biography of Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson was an English writer and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). She became the most widely read novelist in the United Kingdom, with sales of her books exceeding 100 million copies. Despite her immense success, Cookson remained modest in the world of celebrity writers. Her own impoverished youth in North East England served as inspiration for her novels.

Early Life

Born Kate McMullen on June 27, 1906, in Tyne Dock, a small town near the coastal city of South Shields, Catherine Cookson grew up believing that her unmarried mother, Kate Fawcett, was her older sister. She was raised by her grandparents, Rose and John McMullen. Her father, Alexander Davies, was a bigamist and a gambler from Lancashire. At the age of 13, Cookson left school and worked briefly as a domestic servant before becoming a washerwoman in a workhouse in South Shields.

Move South and Marriage

In 1929, Cookson moved south and managed a laundry in Hastings. Saving every penny, she eventually bought a large Victorian house where she could offer lodging to ladies and gentlemen in addition to her main source of income. In June 1940, at the age of 34, she married Tom Cookson, a local school teacher who was six years her junior.

Struggles and Writing Career

After experiencing four late-term miscarriages, Cookson was diagnosed with a rare vascular condition called telangiectasia, which caused frequent bleeding and miscarriages. Her mental health suffered, and it took her ten years to recover. She began writing as a form of therapy to combat her depression and became a member of the Hastings Writers' Association. Her first novel, "Kate Hannigan," was published in 1950. Although publishers marketed it as a romance novel, Cookson was unhappy with the stereotypes imposed on her books. She believed her novels were historical stories about people and conditions she knew.

Writing Style and Popularity

Cookson placed great emphasis on authenticity in her writing. She would even descend into mines to accurately portray the work of her heroines. While she initially desired to write about grand ladies of high society, her protagonists were predominantly individuals who had fallen to the bottom and faced severe life circumstances, as these were the circumstances she knew best. Cookson wrote over 100 novels that sold over 123 million copies and were translated into at least two dozen languages. She also wrote under the pen names Catherine Marchant and Katie McMullen, using the latter as a nod to her childhood name.

Later Life and Legacy

For 17 years, Cookson remained the most borrowed author in public libraries in Britain, only losing this title in 2002, four years after her death. Many of her novels were adapted for radio, stage, and screen. The television adaptations of her books in the 1990s, in particular, gained significant popularity. Cookson lived a relatively modest life despite her wealth from book sales. She was a generous philanthropist, donating substantial sums to various research initiatives while trying to avoid attention. Cookson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1985, and in 1993, she was promoted to Dame Commander, granting her personal nobility. In her final years, Cookson returned to the North East of England. She passed away on June 11, 1998, at the age of 91, in her home in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne. Even while bedridden, she continued to work on her books, with her novels being published posthumously until 2002. Her husband, Tom, passed away on June 28, 1998, just 17 days later.