The Girl [Mass Market Paperback]

Catherine Cookson (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Corgi (1998)
• ASIN: B000JDQ89K
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She 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 of contemporary women novelists.

After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. She was appointed an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, in 1997.

For many years she lived near Newcastle upon Tyne. She died shortly before her ninety-second birthday, in June 1998.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, June 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Girl (Audio Cassette)

The Girl is a book definately worth reading. The characters are very real and believable, and the heroine is absolutely charming. This book teaches us about what one lie can do to you, how it can destroy you and how one truth can make the difference.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Tilly, But Good Nevertheless, September 19, 2009

By 

Tara (Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The girl: A novel (Hardcover)

As my title states, the heroine of this novel, Hannah, doesn't hold a candle to Cookson's previous heroine, Tilly Trotter, but it was a good story anyways. Hannah is introduced to a man named Matthew at the age of eight and told that he is her father. Immediately after being handed into his care, much to his wife's dismay, Hannah's biological mother dies. Hannah then proceeds to grow up in a household fraught with tension and hate.. mostly coming from her stepmother and one sibling. Thankfully, there is boarding school and off she goes. Upon finishing school, however, her father dies as a result of a scandalous situation. Now left in her vindictive stepmother's care, Hannah has only two choices: Marry the local butcher or hit the streets. What Hannah doesn't know is that there is another option in the form of Ned, who has loved her since she was a child.

She marries Fred and I must say, never gives him a fair chance. Throughout her entire marriage, she decides (finally!!) that she wants to be with Ned and despite the vows she exchanged with Fred, she sees Ned on the sly. Obviously, Hannah is not always a likeable character nor easy to sympathize over. I did, however, like all the scandal and there was quite a bit keeping me on the edge of my seat. The only thing keeping me from enjoying this to a 5 star fullest is how spineless Hannah is in the first three fourths of the novel. Only in the end, does this gal show some real spunk and what a surprise she pulls out of her apron! Had she been so ballsy in the first few parts, I would have enjoyed it more.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Story!, June 2, 2005

By 

Emily Woodmont "num" (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The girl: A novel (Hardcover)

Catherine Cookson at her best. Oppression and a hard-scrabble life turns ultimately to triumph for 'The Girl' in this memorable and unforgettably poignant story.