When fifteen-year-old Cissie Brodie loses her parents to cholera, she is forced out of the family cottage and left to raise her nine siblings alone. Although desperately poor, the strong-willed Cissie determines to build a new home for the Brodies. It is only a rough stone shelter, but to Cissie and her family it is enough to keep them from the workhouse. They have friends, but charity cannot always spare them the harsh reality of their struggle and the bitterness of those who wish them harm. But can love, when it arrives, teach Cissie not to fear the world beyond the dwelling place? Set in ...

There were many who said that Riley appeared to be older than his years. He finished school at an early age, leaving a harsh childhood behind him, brimful of optimism and secure in the knowledge that his teacher, Fred Beardsley, had faith in him. Neither of them could have envisaged at the time how their lives would be intertwined. Fred encouraged Riley, a gifted mimic, when he was offered a position at The Little Palace Theatre in Fellburn. And then Riley surprised Fred by forming a close friendship with leading lady, Nyrene Forbes-Mason, who was nurturing his burgeoning talent as an actor. What Riley hadn''t told him was that he had great hopes of the relationship developing into something more. Over the subsequent years, Fred observed with amazement Riley''s rise to fame and fortune. As for his relationship with Nyrene, that did indeed change although not in the way that Riley had envisaged.

Set against backgrounds of the north-east, the south coast and London, and ranging in time from the 1920s to the present day, here are ten stories from the pen of the incomparable Catherine Cookson. In these compelling tales we discover once again the magical storytelling ability that has made Catherine Cookson one of the worlds most popular writers. A husband is forced to re-examine his family relationships; life behind the scenes in a department store is revealed; friendship blossoms in the London Underground during the Blitz. And in an ambitious set of three stories, Cookson traces the changes she has witnessed during her life in the way we view marriage and pregnancy. The stories in this new collection have all the qualities that Catherine Cooksons admirers have enjoyed in her earlier books, and they will introduce her readers to a whole new gallery of true-to-life characters.

The woman who presented herself at the offices of a respectable firm of London solicitors was, the receptionist decided, clearly a vagrant. The clothes that hung on her frail body were filthy, and she seemed unable to speak. When she asked to see the firms senior partner, Alexander Armstrong, she was at first shown the door but when Mr Armstrong learned the name of his visitor, all the office staff were amazed at his reaction. For Irene Baindor was a woman with a past, and her emergence from obscurity was to signal the unravelling of a mystery that had baffled the lawyer for twenty-six years. Catherine Cookson's final novel brings to a triumphant close a career which has spanned fifty years and over a hundred books. Displaying all the qualities which have made Catherine Cookson Britain's best loved storyteller, The Silent Lady is a fitting epitaph to a writer who has brought pleasure to tens of millions of readers across the globe through her wisdom, courage and humanity.

Vanessa Ratcliffe is just sixteen, daughter of one of the town's richest men. And in spite of her social standing and convent education Vanessa's provocative manner often draws envious eyes in her direction. Angus Cotton is a rough diamond, living in filthy Ryder's Row, but as engineer at Affleck and Tate he's worth his weight in gold. Angus has ambitious plans for his future, plans that had never included Vanessa - until now..."The Round Tower" is a beautifully imagined story of power, love, honour and greed and an award-winning novel from one of Britain's most popular novelists.

Mary Walton is the apple of her father's eye; his only comfort during the dark years of the Depression when he is faced with both unemployment and a nagging, ambitious wife. His only hope is that Mary will one day find a way to escape the grinding poverty of the Tyneside slums. But when a secret is revealed these dreams are shattered and the lives of the Walton family change forever...Spanning Mary's life from the 1930's to the 1970's, "Pure as the Lily" is a spellbinding, unforgettable tale from one of Britain's most cherished novelists.

On the face of it, Hannah and Humphrey Drayton were happily married. But after years of tyranny and loneliness, Hannah could no longer bear the stuffy City broker. The only relief she had was every Thursday evening, when Humphrey played bridge, and at the weekends, which he told her he spent with elderly relatives. In despair Hannah took refuge in her writing, despite Humphrey''s ridicule, and a visit to a publisher''s office changed her life. There she met David Craventon, whom she began to think of as her Thursday friend. They would meet and talk and visit the theatre or the cinema. At first Humphrey knew nothing of Hannah''s ''other life'' but even when he became aware that she was seeing someone else, his thoughts of revenge were frustrated by a secret of his own. Then an event occurred that was to destroy all Humphrey''s prospects, causing him to plan a bitter retaliation for what he regarded as his wife''s betrayal. And before very long, Hannah''s Thursday friend was also to become her saviour.

As soon as she saw Shekinah Hall on the wild moorlands near Hexham, Constance Stapleton was attracted to it. With her marriage to Jim on the brink of collapse, Connie sensed that the move would initiate the separation from Jim she knew was inevitable. Connie was told she must negotiate with Vincent O''Connor if she wanted to buy the house, although his abrupt manner took her by surprise. She was to discover that mystery was a way of life for Vincent and began to rely on him increasingly as she settled into her new routine. However, when shocking revelations about her husband came to light, she realised that her life at Shekinah could be under threat