The Harrogate Secret Author:Catherine Cookson The Harrogate Secret is a tour de force of historical imagination, a book that brings together all the elements that have made Catherine Cookson such a popular storyteller: a brilliantly detailed portrait of the oppression of the poor by those who reaped the rewards of the British Empire; and the masterly recreation of everyday historical detail... more ». But most of all, as readers of the Banaman Legacy, The Parson's Daughter and other best-sellers well know, Catherine Cookson has a gift for romance that is unequaled. And here, with the story of Freddie Musgrove, who must rescue the love of his life not once but twice from the malignant forces of The Towers, her gift has never been more in evidence.
Born into grinding poverty, ten-year-old Freddie Musgrove spent his childhood living by his wits. The shillings he picked up running messages and smuggled goods past the ever-watchful eyes of the customs agents helped to feed his family. But one night a mission took this small runner to the house at The Towers, where madness had been known to lurk, and there he witnessed a scene of unremitting horror. His silence was bought and the tide of his life shifted. But years later the madness at The Towers again threatens, and Freddie must once more rescue his hard-won happiness and security from cruel fate.
With more than 60 million copies of her books sold, Catherine Cookson is one of the World's best-loved storytellers-and deservedly so-because these marvelous novels, set in her native Northumberland, offer a truly remarkable portrait of nineteenth-century England. Catherine Cookson has made this vanished world-its time and its people-her special providence. Now, in The Harrogate Secret, this wonderful writer is at the top of her form as she returns to the coal-mining and spellbinding story of a young boy who stumbles one dangerous night into a dark secret that will change the course of his life forever.
Catherine Cookson lives in Northumberland, England, and is best known to American readers as the author of The Whip, The Black Velvet Gown, The Moth, The Bannaman Legacy and The Parson's Daughter.« less