The Upstart

Fülszöveg

Suddenly risen to power and influence, Sámuel Fairbrother, manufacturer and retailer of boots, shoes and clogs, decided that his new station in life deserved a more imposing residence, so when a thirty-four-roomed mansion, situated on the outskirts of Fellburn, became available, he made an offer, take it or leave it, and found himself the owner of a property he saw as a fitting display of his wealth and a suitable reward for his newly gained position in the business community. And that was not all, for together with the house came a clutch of servants, headed by the butler, Maitland, who at once made plain his belief that Sámuel, far from being the gentleman his predecessor had been, was no more than an upstart. So began a clash of wills between master and man, at which Sámuel Fairbrother discovered he was at a distinct disadvantage, for Maitland, urbane and apparently well educated, was well skilled in the art of maintaining a position of indispensability. Fairbrother, for his... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Suddenly risen to power and influence, Sámuel Fairbrother, manufacturer and retailer of boots, shoes and clogs, decided that his new station in life deserved a more imposing residence, so when a thirty-four-roomed mansion, situated on the outskirts of Fellburn, became available, he made an offer, take it or leave it, and found himself the owner of a property he saw as a fitting display of his wealth and a suitable reward for his newly gained position in the business community. And that was not all, for together with the house came a clutch of servants, headed by the butler, Maitland, who at once made plain his belief that Sámuel, far from being the gentleman his predecessor had been, was no more than an upstart. So began a clash of wills between master and man, at which Sámuel Fairbrother discovered he was at a distinct disadvantage, for Maitland, urbane and apparently well educated, was well skilled in the art of maintaining a position of indispensability. Fairbrother, for his part, was only too aware that he dare not dispense with Maitland's services and was forced to conclude that it was a conflict he could not easily win. And so an uneasy truce was declared between them. As the years went by and the century turnéd, Sámuel Fairbrother saw his children, one by one, leave the big house to make lives of their own - all except his eldest daughter, Janet, who, by means of a legacy, was enabled to shape the (Continued on back flap)
(Continued from front flap) destiny of her father's scattered family and effect the reconciliation that he thought was impossible. The Upstart is yet another example of Catherine Cookson's supreme ability to capture the conflict of class in the society of the late nineteenth century in a brilliant növel of page-turning readability. For more than forty years, she has enjoyed a popularity matched by few writers of her time. The Upstart will surely enhance that popularity and be enjoyed by her millions of readers throughout the world. Catherine Cookson was born in Tyne Dock, the illegitimate daughter of a poverty-stricken woman, Kate, whom she believed to be her older sister. She began work in service but eventually moved south to Hastings, where she met and married a local grammar-school master. Although she was originally acclaimed as a regiönal writer - in 1968 her növel The Round Tower won the Winifred Holtby Award - her readership quickly spread throughout the world and her many bestselling novels have established her as the best-loved of contemporary writers. After receiving an OBE in 1985, Catherine Cookson was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1993. Vissza