The UPSTART: A NOVEL - Hardcover

Cookson, Catherine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684843153 ISBN 13: 9780684843155

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1998

Synopsis

As a man who has clawed his way to the top in late nineteenth-century England, Samuel Fairbrother sees the purchase of a mansion on the outskirts of Fellburn as a fitting display of wealth, but his clashes with the disdainful butler Maitland almost destroy Samuel's family. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Suddenly risen to power and influence, Samuel Fairbrother, manufacturer and retailer of boots, shoes and clogs, decided that his new station in life deserved a more imposing residence. Accordingly he bought himself a thirty-four-roomed mansion situated on the outskirts of Fellburn. With the house came the butler, Maitland, who at once made plain his belief that Samuel, far from the gentleman his predecessor had been, was no more than an upstart.

So began a clash of wills between master and man, at which Samuel Fairbrother discovered he was at a distinct disadvantage, for Maitland was well skilled in the art of maintaining his indispensability. Fairbrother, for his part, was only too aware that he dare not dispence with Maitland's services. And so an uneasy truce was declared between them.

As the years went by and the century turned, Samuel Fairbrother saw his children, one by one, leave the big house to make lives for their own--all except his eldest daughter Janet who, by means of a legacy, was enabled to shape the destiny of her father's scattered family and effect the reconciliation that he thought was impossible.

From the Paperback edition.

About the Author:

Catherine Cookson lived in Northumberland, England, the setting of many of her international bestsellers. Born in Tyne Dock, she was the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished woman, Kate, whom she was raised to believe was her older sister. She began to work in the civil service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married a local grammar school master.
Although she was originally acclaimed as a regional writer, in 1968 her novel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby Award, her readership quickly spread worldwide, and her many bestselling novels established her as one of the most popular contemporary authors. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. She died shortly before her ninety-second birthday, in June 1998, having completed 104 works.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0684843153
• ISBN 13: 9780684843155
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352