A Ruthless Need - Softcover

Cookson, Catherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552140392 ISBN 13: 9780552140393

Publisher: Corgi, 1996

Synopsis

Even in the heat of battle, Geoff Fulton, a professional soldier, would always carry with him the memory of the night he was on leave, when his timely intervention rescued fourteen-year-old Lizzie from the oldest of perils for a young girl, and thereby began to change her life. Lizzie came from a desperately poor home, ruled by a slatternly stepmother only too ready to profit from setting the girl along the same sordid road as her elder sister had been made to take.

The year was 1937 and the place a rural enclave of County Durham, where Geoff had been born and raised in the old farmhouse that remained the home of his parents, even though most of its land had been sold off to neighbouring Low Tarn Hall. There his father still worked as estate manager for the demanding Ernest Bradford-Brown, self-made owner of this and many another property. Anxious about his increasingly handicapped mother and seeing in Lizzie a girl of spirit, Geoff concluded that she might, with care and training, solve his problem and benefit herself. So, after a quick visit to outface the protesting Mrs Gillespie, he was soon back home with his willing protegée.

Then, in 1943, when Geoff returned wounded from the desert war, it was to find a Lizzie he hardly recognised - mature and highly attractive. For her part, she soon came to realise that he too had changed. Embittered by his experiences at war and rejected by Ernest Bradford-Brown's daughter Janis after a lengthy relationship long opposed by her irascible father, to Lizzie he now showed a ruthless streak that was at considerable odds with the caring man who had, all those years ago, rescued her from poverty and deprivation.

About this title

Book Description

The story of a girl who, given the chance of a new life and seizing the opportunities it brought her, burgeoned into a talented woman of ideals and expectations.

From the Back Cover

Even in the heat of battle, Geoff Fulton would always carry with him the memory of the night he was on leave, when his timely intervention rescued fourteen-year-old Lizzie Gillespie from the oldest of perils for a young girl. The year was 1937 and the place a rural enclave of County Durham.

Seeing in Lizzie a girl of spirit, Geoff concluded that she might, with care and training, solve his problem and benefit herself. So, despite a token resistance from Lizzie's slatternly stepmother, it was agreed that the girl should become a companion/helper to his increasingly handicapped mother.

But, in 1943, when Geoff returned wounded from the desert war, it was to find a Lizzie he hardly recognised - mature and highly attractive. For her part, she could see that he was embittered by his experiences at war, for he now displayed a ruthless streak far removed from the caring person she had previously known.

A Ruthless Need tells with power and perception the story of a girl who, given the chance of a new life, burgeons into a talented woman of ideals and expectations, and who comes to realise that she no longer needs the support of a man she once regarded as her saviour. It is a novel that will be hugely enjoyed by Catherine Cookson's millions of readers throughout the world.

About this edition

• Publisher: Corgi
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0552140392
• ISBN 13: 9780552140393
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336