The Cultured Handmaiden

At twenty-one, Jinny Brownlow was, to all intents and purposes, alone in the world, a typist at a large engineering firm in the Tyneside town of Fellburn with her only outside interest the local theatre group, where the only role she seemed to play was that of general dogsbody.

Then, suddenly, her life changed. Called upon to stand in as secretary to Bob Henderson, the formidable head of the company, his blunt manner provided a stimulating challenge. Later that same day, she had an unexpected visit from Hal Campbell, leading light of the Fellburn players, who displayed a touching concern for her personal problems. Both were older men and each would, in his own way, be a catalyst to the re-shaping of Jinny Brownlow's pattern of life.

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 a local grammar-school master. At the age of forty she began writing about the lives of the working-class people with whom she had grown up, using the place of her birth as the background to many of her novels.

Although 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 soon began to spread throughout the world. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages and more than 5o,ooo,ooo copies of her books have been sold in Corgi alone. Thirteen of her novels have been made into successful television dramas, and more are planned.

Catherine Cookson's many bestselling novels have 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 and her husband Tom now live near Newcastle-upon-Tyne.