The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson [Paperback]

Piers Dudgeon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Born to an impoverished young Englishwoman in 1906, illegitimate and unwanted, Catherine Cookson lived a life marked by cruelty and neglect. At 22, reeling from a broken love affair, she left home in search of a new life. After five years in a workhouse laundry, she was finally able to buy a house of her own. But her struggle had barely begun. Following the loss of four babies, a nervous breakdown, and confinement in a psychiatric hospital, she was brought to the brink of suicide and forced to recognize the heart of darkness as her own. This remarkable book, now newly revised, draws on previously unreleased material as well as the subject's own personal account.  The Girl from Leam Lane will be welcomed by the millions who know Catherine Cookson through her novels.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Piers Dudgeon worked for ten years as a publisher in London before starting his own company and publishing a number of bestsellers with authors as diverse as Daphne du Maurier, John Fowles, Edward de Bono, Peter Ackroyd and Susan Hill. In the 1980s he worked with Catherine Cookson on her memoir, Catherine Cookson Country. Since 1989 he has worked as a journalist and written nine works of non-fiction. In 1993 he moved with his wife and three children to a village on the North Yorkshire moors, where he is setting up a residential school for writers and artists.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing; Revised centenary ed edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755314980
• ISBN-13: 978-0755314980
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.2 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #930,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important addition to any who want an in-depth survey of Cookson's life., December 11, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson (Hardcover)

Prior fans of Catherine Cookson will appreciate a biography covering her troubled life, blending Cookson's own memoir with previously unpublished material which includes conversations between Cookson and the author to allow for a wide-ranging survey of her life and psyche. These conversations round out details on Cookson's contributions and the entire effort makes for an important addition to any who want an in-depth survey of Cookson's life.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

3.0 out of 5 stars Huh?, August 7, 2011

By 

Judith E. Black - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson (Hardcover)

Unless you are a diehard Cookson fan, I would skip this book because it constantly refers to parts of her novels and if you are not familiar with them, you will be totally lost.

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for the Cookson fan, April 24, 2010

By 

babycakes "Char" (Buffalo) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson (Paperback)

This book makes an excellent companion guide to the reading of Cookson's novels. In addition to giving a detailed biography of her life, it also provides the back story to most of her novels. The discovery of of her illegitimacy at age 7- "she had no da" is heartbreaking and is the inspiration for her first novel KATE HANNIGAN. But Cookson is plucky and like her characters, despite hardships, always triumphs in the end. She is one of England's most beloved novelists, and is mine, too!