Return To Jarrow

Tyneside, 1923: Catherine McMullan is 17, restless and rebellious. She's desperate to escape the grimy, impoverished town of Jarrow and when she finds out that the father she has never known is actually a wealthy gentlemen, it heightens her desire to escape.

In her quest to find the knowledge she has been deprived, she encounters the poverty of the workhouse and the harsh realities of life working in service at one of the North East's grand houses. It's only through these experiences and the determination to better herself that she gathers the courage to transform herself and follow her dreams to move away.

Catherine Cookson is one of this country's most popular authors. By the time of her death in 1998 she had sold over 90 million copies of her books and held the title of the most borrowed author from British libraries until this year. Her own life reflected many of the themes that characterise her novels; poverty, illegitimacy, and the struggle to escape from the harsh life in her home town of Jarrow. Janet MacLeod Trotter has drawn these themes in her new novel based on Catherine's early life.

Being born in the North East herself, Janet MacLeod Trotter had always been both intrigued and inspired by Cookson's life. Return to Jarrow is the concluding chapter in her trilogy of novels that have told the stories of Cookson's grandmother and mother.

Return To Jarrow, by Janet MacLeod Trotter (Headline, £18.99)