Product Description

This is a collection of Catherine Cookson's first three Bill Bailey novels. Bill Bailey came into the life of young widow Fiona Nelson and her three children as a lodger. At first he seems ordinary enough but behind his rough charm lies some remarkable qualities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187818 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 866 pages

About the Author
Catherine Cookson
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

Another Great Character From Catherine Cookson
Bill is a self made man, with a rough exterior, but scratch the surface and there is a man with a heart of gold underneath.

He comes into the life of Fiona and her 3 children at a time when they are in need of a strong character, to depend on. Much to Fiona's mothers disgust, they inevitably fall in love.

Each of the characters in this omnibus have believeable personalities, and each one will make you laugh and cry, as you follow them through the tribulations of their lives.

Fiona's son makes a remarkable friend in Sammy Love, a child that reminds Bill of his rough beginnings, and is taken into their hearts, when tragically, the young boy needs a home and a family.

Disaster strikes for the family, when a teenage crush goes terribly wrong, leaving broken, hearts and friendships, in the lives of the Bailey Family and their friends.

The most moving part of the omnibus, is, when a new baby is born into the Bailey household, but all is not what they had hoped for.

Overall, another Cookson marvel, she has yet again managed to draw the reader into the web of family life, and all of the joy and heart-ache that brings with it.

This book will have you both laughing and crying within the same page, a must read book, not just for Cookson fans, but an excellent choice for those reading her work for the first time.