Shadows of Innocence

Select a format:

Pre-order:

Amazon Blackwells Bookshop.org Foyles Hive Waterstones WHSmith

Summary

'The Queen of raw family romances' Telegraph
'Catherine Cookson soars above her rivals' Mail on Sunday
'Her characters have the grit of real life' Sunday Times

_____

In Christine Winter's youth, her family home was always full of love and laughter. Along with her brother Ronnie and their neighbours, Don and Sam Dowling, Chrissie passed a happy, untroubled childhood, even when the strains of the outside world darkened her family's doorstep.

As she grew up, though, Chrissie quickly realised that she’d have to leave her carefree youth behind. As a young woman, she found that she was seemingly cursed with an indefinable charm that drew men to her, and in some cases led them to the brink of obsession.

Chrissie was used to refusing men's advances, preferring to keep to herself even in the face of their passion. Until one day, Chrissie met a stranger on the river bank near her home and found her life irreversibly changed.

_____

Readers love Cookson's gripping historical sagas:

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Storytelling at its best'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Cookson's stories are timeless'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'A great choice for a summer read'
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Always a joy to read'

Catherine Cookson, UK's top 100 bestselling authors of all time, Nielsen BookScan, July 2024

About the author

Catherine Cookson

Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She began work in service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married Tom Cookson, a local grammar-school master. Although she was originally acclaimed as a regional writer - her novel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby Award for the best regional novel of 1968 - her readership quickly spread throughout the world, and her many best-selling novels established her as one of the most popular of contemporary women novelists. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. She was appointed an Honorary Fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford, in 1997. For many years she lived near Newcastle upon Tyne. She died shortly before her ninety-second birthday, in June 1998.

Learn More