Feathers in the Fire Author:Catherine Cookson Davie Armstrong's Granda had a saying, "Feathers in the fire: that's all we are, lad, feathers in the fire." But one thing the old man had never explained was why the burning of feathers left so much pain in those who stayed behind. Feathers in the Fire is Catherine Cookson's newest Gothic romance. With all the warmth and passion her readers hav... more »e come to expect, she has again created a rich and complex story, peopled by such striking figures as Davie Armstrong, stubborn young man whose deep sense of morality keeps him from acknowledging the woman he really loves; Angus McBain, master of Cock Shield Farm, who can live with his sins only by drowning his consciousness in whiskey; Jane, his gentle daughter, who devotes her life to caring for her deformed younger brother; Amos, the legless child whose handicap turns him into a demon capable even of murder; and spirited Molly Geary, the "fallen woman" who is forced to stifle her feeling for the man she loves.
Set on a tenant farm in late nineteenth-century England, this is a story of love and cruelty, of passion and tragedy. Again the author has combined her keen narrative power with her penetrating insight into human character, and her study of Amos, the half-man, is stunning.« less
One of Cookson's best - this book makes you think about family dynamics. The boy Amos is disfigured and treated badly from the beginning. No wonder he acts out...