Catherine Cookson: Fenwick Houses

High above the river stood the small terrace of miners’ cottages known as Fenwick Houses. And here, during the hazardous years of the depression, lived Christine Winter, a girl blessed – or cursed – with the indefinable appeal that drove men to the brink of obsession.

Three men dominated her life – her brother Ronnie; Sam, whose devotion to her was deep and loyal; and Don Dowling, cruel and tormented, who made it his life’s ambition to possess her.

And then, one day, a stranger came to the river bank, and Christine, who attracted men merely by her presence, found herself changed beyond recall…