Catherine Cookson

Set at the turn of the century, this is one of Catherine Cookson's most unusual novels. It portrays a woman so desperate to protect her inheritance that she will sacrifice almost anything or anyone to get what she wants.

When Fred Carpenter suggests to his wife, Sally, that they should take a boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads, she is filled with trepidation. Nevertheless she summons her courage and they and their bull-terrier Bill set off, with Fred at the helm of Dogfish Three. Sally's misgivings are soon justified, as a series of disasters - human, nautical and canine - threaten to ruin their holiday. Then everything changes as they make friends with the boating...

When Millie's mother abandons her one late afternoon in 1854, fate brings the seven-year-old to Aggie's door - and life will never be the same for either of them. Known locally as 'Raggie Aggie' for her business of trading rags and old clothes, the older woman knows the dangers waiting for such a strikingly pretty girl left alone in their rough area of Newcastle, and sees no other option but to take her in. The unlikely pair soon form an unexpectedly...

Just before her 15th birthday Jinnie Howlett is offered a position as maid-of-all-work at a farm near the Cumbrian border. She hopes this will be a welcome relief from the workhouse she knows too well. But when she meets her brutish employers Jinnie realises she has only exchanged one life of drudgery for another.

Vanessa Ratcliffe is just 16, daughter of one of the town's richest men. In spite of her social standing and convent education, her provocative manner draws eyes in her direction. Meanwhile, Angus Cotton is a rough diamond with ambitious plans for his future - plans which might involve Vanessa.

County Durham, 1860s. Born to a family of wealthy glassmakers, Annabella Legrange leads a charmed life, shielded from the struggles of the lower classes. But when she is 18 she learns the truth of her birth and her whole world is shattered. Forced to flee and leave behind everything she has ever known, she seeks to find a new life among the working classes where she hopes to forget the troubles of her past. She soon finds that moving on is harder...

Everyone, including her family, thought Ward Gibson would marry Daisy Mason. So, when a music hall singer captures his heart instead there's hell to pay. Because of his betrayal, his family must face a series of reprisals - one so terrible it cannot go unanswered.

She came from the hills in the early dawn, appearing in Ned Ridley's stable yard like some wraith of the morning mist to seek the startled young horse dealer's help. Her name was Hannah Boyle and she was eight years old.

Life on the Fifteen Streets was a continual struggle for survival. John O'Brien grew up in abject poverty, confined to the hardships of the Fifteen Streets. Labouring on the city's docks and trying to keep his loved ones safe from the drunken wrath of his father and brother, this is the only way of life he knows. Then John O'Brien meets his sister's teacher. Mary Llewellyn is beautiful and elegant, wealthy and privileged. She wants to help the less...