A House Divided [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Catherine Cookson (Author), Susan Jameson (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2000

It is the end of World War II, and Matthew Wallingham is discharged from the army a decorated hero, but also a blind man. It seems the only person who can reach him is his nurse, Liz. After realizing his family is in disarray, he turns to Liz, but she has her own problems to deal with...

Editorial Reviews

Review

Humour, toughness, resolution and generosity are Cookson virtues...In the specialised world of women's popular fiction, Cookson has created her own territory The Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

At the end of the Second World War, Matthew Wallingham returns home, blinded and uncertain about his future. Worse yet, his father is ill, and his mother is obviously unhappy, while his younger brother, who has made a success of running the farm on the family's estate in the war years, is resentful of Matthew's desire to help him. The only person Matthew feels he can talk to is his grandmother, but the rest of the family regards her as a holy terror.

Matthew soon realizes that his future plans are not going to work, and he starts to look for a new career. He finds himself depending more and more on Liz, his nurse who becomes the focus of all his thoughts and his hopes for a future. But Liz has a shadow hanging over her, a shadow that will bring a terrifying violence into the Wallingham family's life. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Chivers Sound Library; Unabridged edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754053318
• ISBN-13: 978-0754053316
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 7.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,647,881 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not her best, February 4, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A House Divided: A Novel (Hardcover)

World War II may be over, but for many of the soldiers the battle has just begun. Captain Matthew Wellingham struggles with being blind, having much of his skin destroyed, and a rage bordering on insanity. Only the gentle caring of Nurse Elizabeth Ducksworth pulls him through his period of lunacy.

After being discharged from the hospital, Matt meets Liz and knows he is in love with her. Liz goes home to end her engagement to a big bully who tries to rape her. Only her brother stops him from succeeding. Liz and Matt see each other and confess their love for one another. Though his parents and gran adore her, the path to happiness is wrought with troubles caused by other males demanding that Liz be theirs despite her own desire for Matt.

The concept of a nurse falling in love with her patient suffering from several combat related injuries including blindness seems very interesting on the surface. Additionally, the legendary Catherine Cookson affectionately and vividly describes 1946 England. However, much of the conflict in the plot of A HOUSE DIVIDED comes from external sources, making the story line appear contrived rather than free flowing. No internal conflict between the lead couple exists in this tale, leading to the belief that this could have been a classic, but ultimately falls a bit short.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good..but get to the point already!!, July 10, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: A House Divided (Hardcover)

In the end, after all is said and done, I'll admit the characters were lively, and the plot very good. But I was exhausted by the time I finished reading this book! It took forEVER to get to the point of things, and there was a lot of repeated dialogue. Imagine pulling on a string, hoping to get to the end, and you find yourself tugging, and tugging, and tugging in frustration, but to no avail. That's how I felt when reading this novel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Caused Me to Become A Cookson Fan!, April 28, 2008

By 

Ann Rule Fan "bab" (McPherson, Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A House Divided: A Novel (Hardcover)

While browsing through the shelves at my local library, the title of this book - A House Divided - caught my attention. I think it brought to mind some passage in the Bible referring to the fact that a house divided cannot stand. At any rate, reading this book caused me to become a Catherine Cookson fan. Even though it isn't now my favorite book of her works, it must have been pretty great to cause me to go back over and over again in search of her stories. When I had read every book that both the local library and a library in a nearby town had to offer, I began ordering the ones I had not read through Amazon. I have now read over 80 of her more than a hundred novels and I am still searching. Great author!