Born into the bleak industrial heartland of Tyneside in 1906, an illegitimate child, with the courage to escape and discover her true self, denies her people, reaches rock bottom, and then writes her way back into their hearts as Catherine Cookson, the multi-million-selling writer.

Illustrated with 30 striking personal photographs, this is the REAL Jarrow Lass, the ultimate rags-to-riches romance delivered hard-edged by folk who lived in the same street as Catherine as a child and knew first-hand the pain that hardship and alienation brings.

‘A powerful story and Piers Dudgeon tells it with skill and feeling’ Daily Telegraph