CAPSULE COMMENTS

January 17, 2008

Catherine Cookson: Novel to Video

The following materials are available to Library patrons and may be checked out from the main library.

FIFTEEN STREETS, by Catherine Cookson

Class conflicts make love difficult in this tale of people caught in the toils of grinding poverty.

Life is a constant struggle for the working poor; intelligence and learning too frequently give way to the need for basic survival. John O’Brien is determined, however, that his highly intelligent younger sister will have a chance. Thus he comes into contact with her beautiful young teacher, Mary who is several social steps above him and his family. It seems that all will end well until John is accused of fathering a child on a girl of his own class.

Will John give up and accept his place in society? Will Mary believe in him? Will they find a way to bridge the gulf that looms between them?

The library owns this title in print, VHS and DVD formats.

MOTH, by Catherine Cookson

Cookson once again reprises her usual plot of class and romantic conflict. Robert Bradley, ambitious and thriving carpenter meets and falls in love with Agnes, the daughter of an upper-class family which has seen better days.

Because the escapades of her younger sister, Millie, have ruined her chances for marriage within her own class, Agnes is receptive to Robert’s overtures and basic good sense in spite of her feckless, snobby brothers’ objections. We see that class-conflict works both ways when Robert’s fellows also object.

The Library owns this title in standard print, large print and DVD.

RAG NYMPH, by Catherine Cookson

As she pushes her cart home at the end of a long day, rag dealer Aggie comes across a child whose street-walker mother is running from the "polis." Aggie hears the child’s mother tell her to go home, but mother has the key to their living quarters. Knowing what is likely to happen to a pretty child left alone in the worst section of Victorian London, Aggie agrees when the child, Millie asks to come home with her.

What Aggie intends as her good deed of the day becomes a permanent arrangement and Aggie struggles to raise Millie and keep her safe from predatory males even as having Millie in her living quarters causes Aggie and her "family" to raise their sights and strive to better themselves. The Library owns this title in large print and DVD formats.