CATRIN COLLIER
Catrin Collier was born and brought up in Pontypridd, Wales. She has worked in America and Europe before returning to Wales to begin her writing career. A prolific and highly-successful author, Catrin Collier's entire backlist has been been republished by Orion Books. Catrin is currently working
Nominations:
2008 Finalist for Romantic Novelist Association's Book of the Year. (ONE LAST SUMMER)
MAGDA'S DAUGHTER (Orion Books, 21st August 2008)
Stateless and destitute after the Second World War, Magda Janek settled in
Pontypridd, in the hope of building a new life for herself and her baby daughter,
Helena. All Magda had to give Helena were the ambitions she had once cherished
for herself; dreams cruelly snatched from her while she was still in her teens.
But 1960's Pontypridd was a bright, vibrant and very different world to the
one Magda had been born into. At twenty-one Helena Janek had beauty, confidence,
education, friends and opportunities beyond even her mother's wildest imaginings.
With a university degree behind her, a coveted teaching post in her old grammar
school, and marriage to the love of her life, Dr Eddie John, the son of an
old Pontypridd family to look forward to, Helena couldn't have been happier.
Until tragedy struck. A tragedy that robbed her of the only family she had
ever known and everything she had ever believed in; uncovering a bitter secret
Magda had carried to her grave. A secret that threatened to destroy Helena's
future, sanity and love for Eddie just as surely as it had destroyed her peace
of mind. And all Eddie could do was stand by impotently, no longer able to
even reach Helena, let alone
World rights: Orion Books Greek rights: Oceanida Hungarian-language rights: Victoria Kiado
ONE LAST SUMMER (Orion Books, 30th May 2007)
Based on the life of Catrin Collier's mother, this
is a powerful novel that spans sixty years, from the life of grandmother Charlotte
to her journalist granddaughter, Emma.
Allenstein, East Prussia, 1939 - Charlotte von Datski's parents hold a ball to celebrate her eighteenth birthday and to announce her engagement to a Prussian Count. Meanwhile, Hitler is ready to plunge the world into war, one that will wipe East Prussia from the face of the map. Charlotte is forced to leave her beloved homeland. By 1946, she finds herself in London with her young son, struggling to adapt to a new way of life. The secret of her life is revealed when a book entitled `One Last Summer' is smuggled out of a Russian gulag and tells of an affair between a Russian POW and a Prussian aristocrat. It becomes an instant international bestseller. Years on, Charlotte's granddaughter, Emma, comes across material relating to these events. She persuades her grandmother to embark on a journey into her past. Charlotte finally faces the demons that have haunted her for over half a century and recalls the one great love of her life. A moving and turbulent novel unlike anything Catrin Collier has written before.
World rights: Orion
German rights: Weltbild
Greek rights: Oceanida
Hungarian rights: Victoria Kiado
Italian rights: Sperling & Kupfer
Polish rights: Proszynski i S-ka
Spanish rights: Anaya
TIGER BAY BLUES (Orion Books, 20th February 2006)
Pontypridd 1930 - At eighteen Edyth is the 'plain, intelligent' one of Harry
and Sali Evans's daughters, until a chance meeting with handsome curate Peter
Slater throws her life into turmoil. Deeply in love, she sacrifices her own
ambitions of an education and career, and defies her parents' opposition so
she can help Peter realise his dream of running his own parish. The church
sends Peter to Butetown, a multi-racial dockland area of Cardiff, commonly
known as Tiger Bay. There, Edyth and Peter encounter many cultures in the
depression-ridden conditions of poverty. It is a society where creed, language
and the colour of a family's skin do not matter - as long as the borders that
separate Tiger Bay from the city aren't crossed. There, Edyth discovers why
her parents were opposed to her marriage. Peter has a secret that has not
only blighted his life but also hers, one that threatens to destroy her love
and their marriage. In Tiger Bay, she experiences the heartbreak that stems
from being unable to acknowledge the one man she has come to recognise as
the great love of her life.
TIGER BAY RAGTIME (Orion Books, 1st November 2006)
Judy Hamilton was born in the Cardiff docklands. Homeless
after the death of her grandmother, she finds friendship, work and lodgings
with Edyth Slater, above her bakery in Cardiff's colourful Tiger Bay. While
attempting to make her way in a vibrant and complex society, Judy dreams of
one day becoming a successful singer and actress. Restless and anxious to
make his fortune, David Ellis also finds himself drawn to this busy port.
He has left his brothers and sisters behind him on their isolated Breconshire
farm. He is ready to embark on a new, more exciting life and is willing to
do whatever it takes to find success. Judy and David both believe that they
have the strength and determination to make their own luck. But trade has
slumped and ships cease to sail in and out of port. The enterprising natives
of Tiger Bay manage to make a living from those rich enough to remain unscathed
by the depression of the 1930s. Flouting the law, they open illegal casinos,
nightclubs and drinking dens to cater for those who can still afford a good
time. None are more ruthless than Aled James, who employs David as his bookie's
runner. With Aled's help, Judy finally breaks into the glittering paste and
cardboard world of the city's nightclubs and theatres, but Aled demands a
high price for his assistance. David and Judy soon discover that even with
a pocketful of money, the life they'd dreamed about may come at too high a
price...
BEGGARS AND CHOOSERS (2003)
WINNERS AND LOSERS (2004)
SINNERS AND SHADOWS (2004)
FINDERS AND KEEPERS (2005)
SWANSEA GIRLS (2000)
SWANSEA SUMMER (2001)
HOMECOMING (2002)
HEARTS OF GOLD (1992, BBC tv film transmitted
in July 2003)
ONE BLUE MOON (1993)
A SILVER LINING (1994)
ALL THAT GLITTERS (1995)
SUCH SWEET SORROW (1996)
PAST REMEMBERING (1997)
BROKEN RAINBOWS, (1998)
SPOILS OF WAR (1999)
Historical novels set in Wales
"Just in time: no sooner has the Catherine Cookson back catalogue been exhausted but a new saga queen hit the televisual cobbles.' - Sunday Telegraph
"A sympathetic writer, warm-hearted and compassionate." Beryl Kingston
"Moving, heartwarming...impossible to put down." Evening Star
