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138 Works 1,409 Members 62 Reviews 3 Favorited

About the Author

Disambiguation Notice:

Ida Cook also writes as Mary Burchell and James Keene (with Will Cook).

Image credit: Ida Cook (aka Mary Burchell)

Series

Works by Mary Burchell

The Girl in the Blue Dress (1958) 47 copies
A Song Begins (1965) 41 copies
Under the Stars of Paris (1954) 36 copies
Nightingales (1980) 27 copies
When Love Is Blind (1967) 27 copies
Unbidden Melody (1973) 26 copies
The Curtain Rises (1969) 25 copies
Remembered Serenade (1975) 25 copies
Song Cycle (1974) 24 copies
Child of Music (1971) 23 copies
Except My Love (1937) 22 copies
Music of the Heart (1972) 21 copies
Yours with Love (1940) 21 copies
Masquerade with Music (1982) 20 copies
On Wings of Song (1985) 19 copies
Accompanied by His Wife (1941) 19 copies
Call and I'll Come (1955) 18 copies
Little Sister (1939) 18 copies
Just a Nice Girl (1941) 18 copies
Paris and My Love (1960) 18 copies
Honey (1959) 16 copies
But Not for Me (1938) 16 copies
Pay Me Tomorrow (1940) 16 copies
Elusive Harmony (1976) 15 copies
Nobody Asked Me (1937) 15 copies
Dare I Be Happy? (1943) 15 copies
On the Air (1956) 14 copies
For Ever and Ever (1956) 14 copies
Strangers May Marry (1941) 13 copies
Hospital Corridors (1958) 13 copies
The Brave in Heart (1948) 13 copies
Love Made the Choice (1942) 12 copies
A Letter for Don (1950) 12 copies
Such Is Love (1939) 12 copies
One Man's Heart (1955) 11 copies
Take Me with You (1944) 11 copies
To Journey Together (1956) 11 copies
Stolen Heart (1952) 11 copies
Inherit My Heart (1962) 11 copies
Wife by Arrangement (1946) 10 copies
Then Come Kiss Me (1948) 10 copies
With All My Worldy Goods (1938) 10 copies
Cinderella After Midnight (1959) 10 copies
My Sister Celia (1961) 10 copies
Dearly Beloved (1944) 10 copies
Wife to Christopher (1936) 10 copies
Nurse Marika, Loyal in All (1957) 10 copies
Sweet Adventure (1952) 10 copies
Reluctant Relation (1961) 9 copies
House of Conflict (1962) 9 copies
A Home for Joy (1969) 9 copies
Ward of Lucifer (1947) 9 copies
Yet Love Remains (1938) 9 copies
Do Not Go, My Love (1964) 8 copies
Though Worlds Apart (1967) 8 copies
Missing from Home (1968) 8 copies
Dear Trustee (1958) 8 copies
When Love's Beginning (1954) 8 copies
Loving Is Giving (1956) 8 copies
Over the Blue Mountains (1952) 8 copies
The Heart Cannot Forget (1953) 8 copies
Love Is My Reason (1957) 8 copies
Tell Me My Fortune (1951) 8 copies
Under Joint Management (1947) 8 copies
The Other Linding Girl (1966) 8 copies
Love Him or Leave Him (1950) 8 copies
Yours to Command (1955) 8 copies
Always Yours (1941) 7 copies
Across the Counter (1960) 6 copies
Choose Which You Will (1949) 6 copies
Mine for a Day (1951) 6 copies
The Marshall Family (1967) 6 copies
The Wedding Dress (1961) 5 copies
One of the Family (1939) 5 copies
Sweet Meadows (1963) 5 copies
Dear Sir (1958) 5 copies
A Ring on Her Finger (1953) 5 copies
Meant for Each Other (1945) 4 copies
If This Were All (1949) 4 copies
Not Without You (1947) 4 copies
Here I Belong (1951) 4 copies
Away Went Love (1945) 4 copies
Girl With a Challenge (1965) 4 copies
The Rosewood Box (1970) 4 copies
Corner House (1960) 3 copies
Find Out the Way (1946) 3 copies
After Office Hours (1939) 3 copies
Her Sister's Children (1965) 3 copies
Joanna at the Grange (1957) 3 copies
Dangerous Loving (1963) 2 copies
I'll Go with You (1940) 2 copies
First Love-Last Love (1946) 2 copies
No Real Relation (1953) 2 copies
Thine is My Heart (1942) 2 copies
At First Sight (1950) 2 copies
I Will Love You Still (1949) 2 copies
The Heart Must Choose (1953) 2 copies
Second Marriage (1971) 2 copies
The Prettiest Girl (1955) 1 copy
Turneul (1998) 1 copy
Thanks to Elizabeth (1944) 1 copy
My Old Love Came (1943) 1 copy
If You Care (1948) 1 copy
Wish on the Moon (1949) 1 copy
The Nostalgia Collection, Box Set (3-in-1) (1986) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Burchell, Mary
Legal name
Cook, Ida
Other names
Burchell, Mary (pen name)
Keene, James (pen name)
Birthdate
1904-08-24
Date of death
1986-12-22
Gender
female
Nationality
UK
Birthplace
Sunderland, Durham, England, UK
Place of death
London, England, UK
Places of residence
Northumberland, England, UK
London, England, UK
Education
Duchess' School, Alnwick
Occupations
romance novelist
journalist
civil servant
autobiographer
Holocaust rescuer
Relationships
Krauss, Clemens (friend)
Organizations
Romantic Novelists' Association (president)
Awards and honors
Righteous among the Nations
Blue Plaque
Short biography
Ida Cook was born on 24 August 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her elder sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attended the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera.

A constant presence at Covent Garden, the pair became close to some of the greatest singers of the era; Amelia Galli-Curci, Rosa Ponselle, Tito Gobbi and Maria Callas. They also came to know the Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss, and it was through he that Cooks learned of the persecution of European Jews. In 1934, Krauss's wife asked the sisters to help a friend to leave Germany. Having accomplished this, the sisters continued the good work, pretending to be eccentric opera fanatics willing to go anywhere to hear a favourite artist. Krauss assisted them, even arranging to perform in cities they needed to visit. The sisters made repeated trips to Germany, bringing back jewellery and valuables belonging to Jewish families. This enabled Jews to satisfy British requirements as regards financial security - Jews were not allowed to leave Germany with their money. Using many techniques of evasion, including re-labelling furs with London labels, the sisters enabled 29 persons to escape from almost certain death.

The Cooks' own finances were little precarious, and when Ida obtained a contract with Mills and Boon to published her first novel in 1936, she left the Civil Service to write full time. As Mary Burchell, she became a prolific writer of romantic fiction. Her great popularity helped the success of Mills and Boon, and guaranteed substantial income after the war. For many decades, her writing supported her two passions: refugees and young opera singers. Her flat in Dolphin Square at various times housed homeless European families.

In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars", and in 1965, the Cook sisters were honoured as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel, thus joining Oskar Schindler among others.

She helped to found and was for many years president of the Romantic Novelist's Association. As Mary Burchell, she wrote over a hundred romance novels, many of which were translated, and her most famous work is "The Warrender Saga", a series about the opera world, full of real details. She also wrote as James Keene with William Everett Cook.

Ida Cook passed away on December 22, 1986 and her sister Louise in 1991.
Disambiguation notice
Ida Cook also writes as Mary Burchell and James Keene (with Will Cook).

Members

Reviews

 
Flagged
LisaBergin | 1 other review | Apr 12, 2023 |
Awww, so cute and a lovely big happy ending, even though I wanted to berate the girl halfway through for clinging so relentlessly to the wrong guy.
Also, I take back what I said from the previous book about Florian being a bit of a jerk. He's positively mellow in this one, five years later.

Plot summary: Marianne comes to Paris, longing for a chance to capture the man she's been in love with for years who has also recently traveled to the city. Meanwhile, she gets a job in Florian's boutique and also meets Roger (the rejected suitor of the previous book). Fashion hijinks ensue. Marianne pursues her crush, her crush pursues a model from the fashion salon, and good old Roger provides a shoulder to cry on.
What stands out to me, besides the cutesy, delicious, conclusion of the story, is the little universe that Mary Burchell manages to create at this fashion salon. It's quite endearing and lively.
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Flagged
Alishadt | 1 other review | Feb 25, 2023 |
Hmm.
This book will most appeal to you if you have a toleration for the Mr. Rochesters and M. Paul Emanuels of the world of fiction.
In other words, a romantic interest who is a bit of a jerk. Indeed, Charlotte Bronte would have been all over this plot.
There's no getting away from it. There were multiple times in this book where I sighed a little bit and thought, "Ah. So we're doing this, are we?"
The autocratic man who's rather too old for the heroine. Who keeps her guessing the whole time as to whether he dislikes her or is just indifferent (hint: it's neither).
What can I say? Mary Burchell handled it with skill and thrill.

Plot summary: Anthea is on her own in Paris, jilted by her fiancé, and with dwindling finances. A chance meeting gets her an opportunity to model at a luxurious fashion show, where she meets Florian, a prestigious dress designer. The rest is moments of catty girl drama, enigmatic conversations with her employer, dinner dates with a "just a friend" who wants to be more, and very Jane-Eyre-like amounts of concealed longing for the inscrutable employer.

If it sounds like your thing, it probably is. Yes, I gave it 5 stars. Yes, even though I wouldn’t be on board with it in real life, I really liked it and was totally invested by the end.
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Flagged
Alishadt | 2 other reviews | Feb 25, 2023 |
Oh dear.
How do I rate this book? It's effective, I'll give it that. But it's also a super toxic relationship, and it pulls out some cheap narrative tricks to get the reader to root for this couple.
Sigh.
The first Mary Burchell book I read, Under the Stars of Paris, also had a fairly alpha love interest, but, for me, he didn't cross any unforgivable lines. And the sequel to that one actually featured a pretty nice guy. So far, so good.
Then I tried this first book in the Warrender series. And, oof, it's too much. Too much bullying, too much arrogance. So I'm giving it 3 stars in deference to the author's ability to weave a tight and very lively plot, because obviously it kept me reading, but... I don't really recommend it.
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Flagged
Alishadt | 4 other reviews | Feb 25, 2023 |

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Anne Sebba Foreword

Statistics

Works
138
Members
1,409
Popularity
#18,236
Rating
½ 3.3
Reviews
62
ISBNs
227
Languages
4
Favorited
3

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