The Golden Straw

✍ Scribed by Cookson, Catherine

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 308 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 1780360932

✦ Synopsis

It all began with a straw hat a large, broad-brimmed hat, dyed in an elusive mixture of colours to produce a distinctive shade of pale gold. It was presented to Emily Pearson by her long-time friend and employer Mabel Arkwright, a milliner with a little store in the West End of London. And Emily owed Mrs. Arkwright more than just The Golden Straw eventually the business itself, because her friend had come to rely on Emily more and more as time went by.

After Mabel Arkwrights death, Emily was exhausted by the extra work that had fallen upon her shoulders and exasperated by Dr. Steve Montane, her late employers young and plain-spoken physician. She took herself off to the South of France to stay at a hotel that had been warmly recommended by Mabel before she passed away. It was now 1880, and many fashionable guests were staying at the hotel in Nice, among them Paul Anderson Steerman. It was from the balcony of his room that he first noticed The Golden Straw, worn by Emily as she arrived from England. But although it was the hat that first held his attention , his admiring gaze quickly turned to Emily herself, and throughout the time of his stay he paid her unceasing attention.

But Paul Anderson Steerman was not all he seemed to be, and he was to bring nothing but disgrace and tragedy to Emily. The traumatic months following her return to England were but a prelude to a series of events that would influence the destiny not only of her children but her grandchildren too. As the new century dawned, the First World War came and went, and Emily could now reflect on all that had resulted from the gift of the hat.

Catherine Cookson has never written a more ambitiously plotted or richly satisfying historical novel. Conceived on a panoramic scale, it brilliantly portrays a whole rich vein of English life from the heyday of the Victorian era to the stormy middle years of the twentieth century. The Golden Straw is absorbing from the first to last page and represents yet another triumph for this great storyteller.

**

Review

Battered by a man she was warned not to marry, milliner Emily Pearson Ratcliffe is healed and her spirit redeemed by the friendship with her beloved employer, Mrs. Awkright. Emily loves and respects her employer like no one else in her life, so she's tolerant when Mrs. Awkright pushes Emily to pursue the handsome doctor who makes frequent house calls. The trouble is, Emily sees Dr. Steven Montane as self-possessed and acid-tongued. When the elderly lady dies, she leaves Emily with a thriving business and one request: to vacation in the South of France, where Mrs. Awkright once had the time of her life. Before she leaves, Dr. Steve makes his intentions toward Emily known, and she rebuffs him. At the very same hotel where her employer was so happy, Emily finds herself head over heels in love with a dashing, charming, and very married man, Paul Steerman. But, divorced herself, Emily is drawn into an affair that continues once the lovers return to London. Until the day that Emily finds herself pregnant. While the women who work for her surround her with love and support, her dashing hero all but deserts her. And then his other, older mistress of eighteen years tracks Emily down and beats her so badly that Emily looses the baby. And now she's lost another ally-- Dr. Steve tells her that he's engaged and will be married in the next year. But then Emily is raped by Paul, her former lover, and Steve can no longer allow his pride to get in the way of caring for the woman he has always loved. He proposes marriage, and Emily accepts. Only once married, both must learn to live with the far-reaching consequences of Emily's choices.Vintage Cookson! A delicately-drawn tale filled with rich and complex characters! A true morality play about making choices and living with the consequences! A novel filled with both the joy and heartbreak of love! Like a fine red wine, Golden Straw is a story that grows more complex with emotion with each page!Annette Carney -- Copyright 1994-97 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved -- From Literary Times

About the Author

Catherine Cookson lived in Northumberland, England, the setting of many of her international bestsellers. Born in Tyne Dock, she was the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished woman, Kate, whom she was raised to believe was her older sister. She began to work in the civil service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married a local grammar school master.

Has Cover : Yes
Number of Words in Auth: 2
Formats : EPUB
Number of Formats : 1
All Identifiers : amazon:B004TO6764, goodreads:670366, isbn:1451660189
Single Author : Catherine Cookson
Original Source : New_Train_Pack_2019-084
Sorted Author by LN, FN: Cookson, Catherine
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Record ID : 10236
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