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Ida Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.
As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.
It was for a heartbreaking reason - the urgent necessity to get money to send her invalid father to a warmer climate - that Vicki had tricked Christopher Kentone into marrying her; nevertheless, she had tricked him, and when Christopher found out, so...
Somewhere under all the planning and preparations Alison cherished a faint hope that her business-arrangement marriage with, Julian would turn into the kind of relationship she'd always dreamed of. But now, Rosalie was free again and Julian no...
When Erica married her boss she was under no illusions as to the nature of the marriage. She knew that for Oliver it was merely one of convenience, that he would never have considered her had he not lost the woman he really loved. All the same, Er...
When her love affair crashed in ruins, Lyn's only comfort was her sister's two children, whom she had promised to look after. But when she made that promise she had no idea that the children's other guardian was going to be the very man who had once ...
From having almost nothing in her purse, Leonora Culpane found herself transported to the heights of unimaginable wealth. But if the fortune brought with it excitement, pleasure and luxury, it also brought bewilderment, doubt, and -- most astonishing...
Quite frankly, Ariane was making a marriage of convenience. But Frank Muldane was very nice, and for her family's sake, she thought she could go through with it. But that was before she met and fell in love with his dark, disapproving elder br...
When her love affair crashed in ruins, Lyn's only comfort was her sister's two children, whom she had promised to look after. But when she made that promise she had no idea that the children's other guardian was going to be the very man who had once ...
Helen had always been fond of her friend Sylvia, and she felt an enormous debt of gratitude towards Sylvia's mother -- so she had always felt obliged to keep a protective eye on her friend, so much less self-reliant than Helen and so apt to land ...
When Gwyneth married Van Owslie she thought she had buried the past, finally and irrevocably. She had believed her mother's statement that the child she had had secretly after her brief, tragic bigamous marriage was dead! Only when it was too ...
Brought up to think of herself as an orphan, Alix Farley learned, to her surprise and joy, that she had a mother after all. The discovery that her mother was the world-famous singer, Nina Varoni, added a heady new excitement But Alix soon realized...
The improvident Laverhope family were in the worst financial straits that even they had ever been in, and the eldest daughter, Ismay, knew that the only thing that would save them would be her marriage to the richest man in the district, Keith Otterb...
The scheme would be of mutual benefit When Jason Kent literally crashed into Virginia's life, he turned her whole world upside down. In return for a large sum of money, he asked her to pose as his mistress so that his wife would divorce him. ...
It was for the sake of that dear old lady, Mrs. Harnby, that Patricia agreed to the fantastic suggestion that she should masquerade for a few days as Michael Harnby's wife. How was she to know that the deception would spread wider and wider until...
Valerie wasn't in a very happy situation -- not fit enough to work, and clearly unwanted by the relatives with whom she had been living. But in impetuously accepting the proposal of a man she scarcely knew, wasn't she in danger of jumping ...
Resi had loved and idealised Lucian Marlow ever since she was a little girl and now that she was grown up she loved him still. But how did he feel about her? He had always been kind to her, interested in her; during the long years she had been an inv...
A story of girl who was dismissed as a nobody and compared to her exceptionally pretty cousins. Nicola had grown accustomed to being compared to her exceptionally pretty cousins and dismissed as a nobody. It would, of course, be nice to be noticed...
She was living a lie and falling in love Three years of barely existing in New York made Tina desperately homesick for England. So she agreed to impersonate her friend Sonia to collect a small legacy in London. Sonia, marrying a wealthy American, ...
She was living a lie and falling in love Three years of barely existing in New York made Tina desperately homesick for England. So she agreed to impersonate her friend Sonia to collect a small legacy in London. Sonia, marrying a wealthy American, ...
To Antonia, drama was something that happened to other people -- until the day when the pleasant prosperity she had always known was abruptly swept away, and she had to face the appalling fact that her own father was a criminal. She felt that the ...
Marigold was very young, very inexperienced, and very trusting -- so perhaps it was hardly surprising that as soon as she met the well-known author Lindley Marne, handsome, worldly, and -- or so he claimed -- unhappily married, she should fall wildly...
Can romance flourish in the world of business? Find the answer in this story of Floria, the charming, efficient secretary, and her employer -- steel magnate, reputed slave-driver, and to her, an utterly fascinating man. ...
Leoni had spent her life in an orphanage. A well-run, kindly orphanage, true; but she wanted acutely to have a home of her own, to "belong" somewhere. Her first attempt -- at the age of nine -- to bring this about was not wholly successful; l...
Could she put his love to such a test? Hope Arning was in love with Richard Fander and expected to marry him, but he had speculated and lost money that wasn't his. Now he faced prison, and she was forced to ask Dr. Errol Tamberly to lend them ...
Was Lindsay Varlon just an attractive scoundrel -- or Thea's best friend in a difficult world? Cousin Geraldine, the popular and beautiful actress, probably knew the answer, but she was not inclined to help her penniless young relative. Then S...
'You may think you're in possession,' said Marcia Vale when she heard of her cousin Teresa's engagement to Elliott Burdern, 'but I can end all that when I like. Will you give him up quietly? Or will you put me to the small troubl...
"Justin Yorke," that gentleman's housekeeper told his young ward, "is a man who likes his own way. It's perfectly true that he'll be kind to you over most things. But, in return, he won't expect you to oppose him in anythi...
"It never hurts to keep a man dangling, on the assumption that you are interested in another man," Anne's employer told her with good-natured cynicism. "But it's taking a great risk to keep him waiting on interests of a family,...
"It never hurts to keep a man dangling, on the assumption that you are interested in another man," Anne's employer told her with good-natured cynicism. "But it's taking a great risk to keep him waiting on interests of a family,...
When Marina became engaged to the most eligible bachelor in the neighbourhood, it was a purely temporary affair, arranged to suit their mutual convenience. It was unfortunate, then, that Marina should discover that she was in love with Nicholas at th...
Jessica's plans for the future depended entirely on her unknown but reputedly harsh landlord, and she was understandably nervous about her forthcoming interview with him. So it was a welcome surprise when he turned out to be young, good-lookin...
When Harriet Denby became companion to old Mrs. Mayhew, she expected a quiet, busy country life with few excitements. Instead she became involved in a dramatic family tangle. At first she tried to remain an onlooker, but soon she realised that her wh...
When Mary became secretary to a famous opera singer, she had not expected to become involved in her tangled family life as well -- and she had certainly not realized that, in trying to solve the prima donna's problems, she would find her own happines...
Mills & Boon She found a real link between love and hate. Anne Hemming was not the type to hate anyone, but the morning Mr. Jerome angrily fired her she certainly came close. For every bad, however, there is a good, and Anne heard of a small...
On the face of it, Alison Dean was a very lucky girl - to have had two proposals of marriage on the same day! True, one was from a man she hardly knew - Eldon Saville - but that couldn't be helped; it was the man she loved, Donald Ormby, whom Ali...
To be left a fortune at 20! No one would quarrel with that. To have to go live at Bratherley Manor with an unknown aunt in consequence - not quite so attractive. And to have to leave the man one loved in order to do so - definitely a blow! All the sa...
Laura is invited to her cousins wedding and helps her cousin organize the wedding. However she finds herself in a difficult position when she finds that she has fallen in love with the groom at first sight. She also has the difficult task of explaini...
With one exception, all the members of the impoverished Greeve family built their futures round the name of Great-Aunt Tabitha and the fortune she was expected to leave them. The exception was Leslie Greeve, for whom the future meant only Oliver B...
"Please, Joanna! You must help me!" Auriel Deane was deeply in trouble. To help her, Joanna -- her usually sensible sister -- embarked on an incredibly risky adventure. Caught burglarizing an apartment, Joanna found herself a potentia...
When Nicola set out on a short motoring holiday, she vaguely hoped to encounter some sort of adventure. She wasn't prepared, however, for the bewildering net of events in which she found herself caught. To lose her way was bad enough, but to f...
Juliet knew it was foolish giving up her life in England and flying to Australia with her newfound relatives, but the though of being with her fiance sooner than planned made her feel it was the right choice. When she arrived to the heartbreak of lea...
When Antonia agreed to go as secretary-companion to her unknown Aunt Harriet, she did not take very seriously the promise that she would be made the old lady's heiress. She was startled, therefore, when on arrival she found that the estate was a ...
Wouldn't you love to live the life of a debutante, just for Coronation Year? Not many of us can, of course, but the next best thing is the follow the fortunes of Flora Elvain, who did have the opportunity to do just that. Mary Burchell has made F...
When Teresa entered the train at Euston, she was a happy girl on her way to meet her fiance. When she left it at Kendal, she was the prospective employee of a man she knew nothing except that he was "difficult" and slightly mysterious. Paul...
It was with eager anticipation and no worries that Alison set off on her journey to New Zealand and Australia. A trained nurse need never be anxious about earning her own living -- and Alison had a friend as well as a job waiting for her. In fac...
To leave London for a remote Northumbrian village may sound like a descent into dullness; but Veronica Benley found it quite the reverse. An only child, she was enchanted by life with the Elveys -- a large family, gay and affectionate, who joyously a...
"Just pretend that the man you wish to marry is standing before you," the designer instructed Anthea as she waited to model the wedding dress in the grand finale of his Spring Collection. But the man Anthea wished to marry was out there in...
Imagine what a shock it was for Sydney to discover that the newly appointed Headmaster of the boys' school at which she was matron was none other than her ex-fiancé, Hugh Lulworth, whom she had not been able to forget! Tormented by her love f...
When Leonie Creighton was chosen as Claire Elstone's companion on a voyage to Australia, she knew that the whole purpose of the journey was to separate Claire from a young man of whom her father disapproved. So it was a considerable shock to her ...
Suddenly life was wonderful. Bridget's boss, Jerome Callender, brilliant and demanding TV producer, had cast her as interviewer in his new TV series. He even offered to let her interview her fiancee, the rising actor Norman Kleate. Then Norman change...
Jane was thrilled by her unexpected legacy, and only too happy to give half of it away, as stipulated, to "deserving causes", but for more reasons than one she was only too glad to have the assistance of her solicitor, Paul Frimley. Hero: ...
Elinor worked in a travel agency, but never expected to visit a of the exciting places whose names streamed through her daily typing -- until all four of a business trip to Austria and Italy opened to her a whole new in enchanting world. This is ...
Anya, is a 'displaced person'; a young girl who for most of her life had known nothing but the ugliness and hardship of various refugee camps. Then came the day when her life was strangely linked with an English party visiting Bavaria. David ...
Marika was warned to leave Hungary Unfortunately, the warning came too late and Marika Stevens was caught in strife-torn Budapest. There was not only her safety to consider, but that of her mother and the handsome Dr. Janos van Raszay. Marika h...
Mrs. Merriden was a benevolent autocrat whose rule over a small North-country village was cheerfully accepted by most of those whom it concerned. But perhaps she went rather too far in engineering a fictitious engagement between her grandson, Robe...
It was a surprise to Naomi when she found herself in charge of a young niece and a large house in a charming Dorsetshire village, and without much money to keep either of them. She was grateful for the willing help and advice of the villagers, but...
"The Grange" was a very superior guest-house in the Lake District, owned by a couple of very superior and genteel slave-drivers, and Joanna worked there some sixteen hours a day. And as if that wasn't enough, she found herself holding the...
Can a man fall in love with a painting? The girl in the blue dress was in a portrait that Franklin Lowell had owned and admired for years. And when, at last, he met the original model for the picture, it seemed to be too late. Not only was she in ...
Madeline felt that she was on the brink of a completely new life when she left England to do a year's nursing in a great Montreal hospital. But she found that after all, she would not be totally among strangers, for she had already met on board s...
Maxwell Perring was a surgeon with a special distinction about him; "star quality" it might have been called in another profession. Nurse Alma Miles admired his work, but had never thought about him as a man. All her thinking of that sort was...
Her father left her four surprises When Cecile's father died, she had not thought he would leave her a fortune -- and he had not. He left three trustees: efficient Aunt Josephine, cantankerous Uncle Algernon, and handsome, winning Gregory Pict...
Marianne was young, she was in Paris -- that perfect setting for romance -- and she was in love with Nat. The only snag was that she was not at all sure of Nat's feelings for her. Did he have any more than a brotherly affection for her? Could sh...
When a large London store took over the old family business of Kendales in the Midlands, Katherine was sent up there to reorganize one of Kendales' departments. She looked forward to the assignment for more reasons than one. But when, within a we...
"Keep away from Michael Harling!" Ruth would never had submitted to blackmail for her own protection, but the secret Charmian Deal threatened to disclose would hurt a lonely old woman who could everything she most wanted. Beside, the price...
More or less thrown out of her own home by a jealous new stepmother, Meg went to the other end of England to start a new life and wasn't at all pleased when almost the first man she met there turned out to be her stepmother's brother. She...
He wasn't her idea of a guardian. Shortly after her father's death, Loraine found herself in the care of Paul Cardine, and living in the heady atmosphere of Paris. She landed a modeling job in the city's most acclaimed fashion house --...
It was the happiest day of Freda's life when she discovered that her sister Celia, whom she had always believed dead, was very much alive and delighted to be reunited with her. But her affection for her new-found sister was to be put to its stern...
Alison and her cousin Lorna felt they had been very lucky to land themselves pleasant jobs as housekeepers to elderly Mrs. Storey and her family, in a beautiful house in the Lake District. Alison in particular hoped that now she might be able to trac...
As far as Fleur was concerned, Justin McVee seemed fated to turn up at all the most inopportune and ridiculously compromising moments, and consequently, he had a very poor idea of her character. When he found her beside the body of Godfrey Frome, who...
He had left her penniless. After years of supporting his distant relatives, Uncle Enoch left them only small annuity -- hardly enough for Naomi's extravagant mother. It was a shock to Naomi and her mother when the fortune they expected to inheri...
To Anne Weston, brought up in an orphanage, the sudden discovery of her American cousins was as astounding as it was wonderful, and when they invited her to stay with them in their Maryland home her cup of happiness was full. But as her visit went on...
When Paul Freemantle dropped her to get engaged to another girl, Margaret Masters entered into a "pretence" engagement to Giles Ormby to save face. But then Paul's fiancee jilted him. Just where did that leave Margaret now? Hero: P...
An unknown benefactor had sufficient faith in Anthea Benton's singing voice to pay for her training under the celebrated operatic conductor, Oscar Warrender. Anthea felt her dreams were coming true...but would she be tough enough to work unde...
When Clare was left as absolute successor in the family textile business, she realized it had been her father's wish that she should take his place, and she accepted the challenge with a will. But the assistant manager, Grant Tattersall, resented...
Judith Warren is a rich older woman, set in her ways but open to help people she loves. When Moria the oldest finds her fiancé is being sent to Canada, Aunt Judith steps in and tells her to go with her man. Miss Warren is a cultured, classy, swee...
Rachel, with two far more dazzling sisters, felt she would always be "the other Linding Girl" unless she broke away from Loriville and the family home. But there still seemed plenty of obstacles to prevent her from being the special one for N...
Three months of luxury, at an exclusive seaside resort, and all at Aunt Gabrielle's expense! Elaine would indeed have considered herself lucky, had there not been one very, very delicate condition attached to the situation -- a condition on whic...
Jessica Marshall's family life had run serenely for twenty-two years, and then just one telephone call led to her world being turned upside down. This is the story of how she faced up to a challenge. "Didn't Bob ever talk about his bus...
"You don't understand! You're prejudiced against David because he doesn't happen to be quite our sort," Katherine Mallory told her mother who did not like the idea of Katherine marrying David Kentish. "Everyone doesn't hav...
WAS SHE ALWAYS TO BE OVERSHADOWED. Although blessed with the voice of an angel. Tessa Morley was exceedingly shy. Her outgoing twin sister, the beautiful bewitching Tania, seemed forever to be in the limelight. When success was the only thing that...
WAS SHE ALWAYS TO BE OVERSHADOWED. Although blessed with the voice of an angel. Tessa Morley was exceedingly shy. Her outgoing twin sister, the beautiful bewitching Tania, seemed forever to be in the limelight. And now it looked as it Tania would ...
The Collamore family had been happy and normal for years, until the parents, tragically, decided to separate. Then unhappiness seemed to pile up, when the elder daughter, Pat, failed to return home from a holiday. Hero: Jerry Collamore Heroine: C...
Antoinette Burney, a more than promising music student, was disappointed, unbelieving and furious when the famous concert pianist Lewis Freemont failed her in an exam, telling her forthrightly that she would never make the grade as a professional pia...
When her father died suddenly and the house had to be sold, Joy was more than grateful to her uncle and aunt for so kindly offering her a home with them. But in the end they were to benefit as much from Joy as she had from them!...
Anna was sure she'd made a mistake in marrying Tony Roone. Not that she didn't love him, but she felt she had nothing to give him. As a compensation, she had made a career for herself as a singer -- but found success wasn't satisfying....
Lavinia and Derek Manton had had a happy though childless marriage for a number of years, and they were still comparatively young when, without any warning, Derek died. Without warning - and without preparation - as Lavinia discovered when after a fe...
Nicola was looking forward to marrying violinist Brian when he came back from his tour of Canada. However Brian became ill and died suddenly. Months later Nicola had the opportunity to meet Brian's boss Julian a world famous conductor. Nicola fin...
Felicity had not liked Stephen Tarkman of the Tarkman Musical Foundation when she had once sat next to him at a dinner party. He had the air, she felt, of a man who wields power and enjoys the fact -- and she had rather made plain her dislike. Then s...
Gail Rostall was a young and ambitious singer, but all the same, when she got to know the famous composer Marc Bannister it was not with the idea of furthering her career; in fact, her feelings for him were far from professional ones ! But how cou...
They had met by chance in circumstances of danger and embarrassment. Both of them believed that love was well lost for money, although they had no money and fell in love with each other. If they ran true to their beliefs, they would say goodbye a...
Mary loved music, and was thrilled to be working as secretary to a famous impressario -- but it was another matter when she found herself becoming involved with one of his client the celebrated singer Nicholas Brenner. She told herself firmly that...
After years of hard training Anna was ready to launch into a career in the world of music. Everything seemed to be going well until family troubles forced her to turn down the chance of a lifetime to join a Canadian tour, organized by the dynamic Jon...
Joanna Ransome was hoping to embark on a singing career -- and with the great conductor Oscar Warrender taking an interest in her she could hardly fail! But how could she manage to convince Elliot Cheam that she was not just a cheap little gold di...
Lindley Harding was a singer nearing the end of his career; Laurence Morven was a new star -- and rival -- coming up over the horizon. And Lindley's daughter Natalie, who loved them both, found herself torn two ways as the bitterness grew between...
Difficulties were meant to be overcome Little did Amanda realize the full meaning of Jerome Leydon's words, although she had taken the famous composer's advice and sought lessons from the gifted Dr. Lewis Elsworth. Lewis had been patiently...
She couldn't reveal her true identity Nor could Kate reveal it had been her ambition to become an opera star that prompted her to take a job in London with her famous uncle, Oscar Warrender. Two men were prepared to help her: Carlo, a han...
"It's the girl who interest me." Those fateful words spoken by the great conductor Oscar Warrender changed Caroline's life. She'd never considered herself a potential opera singer, but with Warrender's encouragement and ...