The Black Velvet Gown - Hardcover

Cookson, Catherine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671467883 ISBN 13: 9780671467883

Publisher: Summit Books, 1984

Synopsis

Biddy Millican, the daughter of an impoverished widow, struggles to find happiness and overcome the harsh conditions of life in England during the 1800s

About this title

From the Inside Flap

There would be times when Riah Millican came to regret that her husband had learned to read and write, and then shared his knowledge with her and their children.  For this was Durham in the 1830's, when employers tended to regard the spread of education with suspicion.  But now Seth Millican was dead and she was a widow with the need to find a home and a living for herself and her children.

The chance of becoming a housekeeper didn't work out, but it led to Moor House and a scholarly recluse obsessed with that very book learning that could open so many doors and yet create so many problems; especially with her daughter, Biddy, who was not only bright, but witful...

THE BLACK VELVET GOWN is the story of a mother and daughter, often at odds with each other, facing the need to challenge and fight the prejudice of an age--a narrative of great power and diversity that is one of Catherine Cookson's major achievements.

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Summit Books
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0671467883
• ISBN 13: 9780671467883
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 345