The Dwelling Place

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Catherine Cookson has recently become one of my favorite authors. Cookson creates powerfully touching novels of love and overcoming the odds, two things that I greatly enjoy reading about. The Dwelling place is such a novel. It tells the story of a courageous young girl who takes on the challenge of raising her many brothers and sisters. It's touching and very interesting plot wise. I recommend it to those who LOVE historical fiction and perhaps those who like not having the difficulty of something like Jane Austen. What I'm getting at is that it's pretty straightforward. Ray was inspired to become an actor after seeing John Malkovich in the play Burn This at a West End theatre. Personal Details

When Cissie Brodie loses both of her parents to cholera she is left with nine younger siblings to look after and no income. She is aware that the workhouse is usually the inevitable outcome for people in such dire circumstances - an outcome she is determined to avoid, knowing it will break up her family. In desperation she accommodates them in a cave on the fells – the ‘dwelling place’ – and with the help of Matthew, a wheelwright, she succeeds in building a makeshift home in this rough environment. She resolutely defies all the dogmatic influencers who insist the workhouse is her only option. This story revolves around Cissy Brodie, a 15 year old girl who is left to care for her numerous siblings when her parents die. If that wasn't enough, they are evicted from their home. Cissy is determined to keep the family together and so, sets out to create a "dwelling place" from a cave on the fells. When fifteen-year-old Cissie Brodie loses her parents to cholera, she is forced out of the family cottage and left to raise her nine brothers and sisters by herself. Although desperately poor, strong-willed Cissie determines to build a new home for them all, their own little shelter to keep them from the workhouse. This book has an absolutely terrible, super damaging philosophy of love and sex, and I threw it in the garbage. It might be the only book I've ever thrown in the garbage, and I have no regrets. The ending (and the relationships between Cissie and everyone else, but especially the conclusion) is brutal. 10/10 do not recommend. In 1830’s Northumberland 16 year old Cissie Brodie is forced to bring up her five younger siblings alone following the death of their parents.Unable to see her sister condemned to such a fate, Cissie strikes a bargain with Lord Fischer, offering to hand over the baby if he will use his influence to secure the dropping of charges against Bella. Episodes 1 hour ago Secrets of the Royal Palaces: Love and Marriage (Channel 5 Saturday 4 November 2023) I cannot understand why the most of the readers like Matthew's character. He appeared to me egoistic and possessive. By the end of the book I already disliked him completely. He treated both Rose and Cissie terribly. I think Cissie did not really love him, but it was her teenage first romantic touch, and the situation they were in. I think she was depending on him and saw him as their saviour and only friend. My impression is that she was not quite happy during her marriage. Otherwise she would not feel "released" after Matthew's death and would mourn and remember him with love. I did not notice any of them. What is more, I do not recall having read that she loved Matthew since Clive's first return in her live.

Ray took the role of Graham Braithwaite in At Home with the Braithwaites, the hugely successful drama series about a lottery winner starring Amanda Redman. One of Ray's first roles was in the Catherine Cookson drama The Dwelling Place. He also appeared in a later Catherine Cookson adaptation, The Tide of Life, which starred Gillian Kearney.I thought it was well written tale of a woman (by the end of the novel is much older unlike in the movie) of strength and impeccable character who overcomes ALL obstacles. Ray was married to actress Ruth Gemmell, who he met when they worked together on the drama Band of Gold. They later played a husband and wife on screen in Peak Practice. But the couple are now divorced. Period drama serial The Dwelling Place was another entry in the series of Catherine Cookson adaptations made by Tyne Tees throughout the 1990’s.

Writer: Gordon Hann / Novel: Catherine Cookson / Producer: Ray Marshall / Director: Gavin Miller / Design: Ash Wilkinson / Music: Colin Towns / Costume: Shuna Harwood / Camera: John Hooper You will not read a more exciting and absorbing work of historical fiction than this gem from Catherine Cookson. Set in County Durham in the mid 19th century, it dramatically confirms how bad it was to be poor during a period of massive industrial development and social upheaval. Catherine Cookson is an icon; without her influence, I and many other authors would not have followed in her footsteps. Val Wood

Clive proved to be reliable and loving. She loved Cissie truly and never pressed her with his presence and desires, never came whining to her, as Matthew did many times. So there's Cissie and her brood, Matthew the Wheelwright, and then Lord Fischel and his mansion and awful (adult) children, Clive and Isabelle. Isabelle is about as evil as a villain can be. This can be because you're in a country where BritBox is not available, or because you're using a VPN. The Dwelling Place is one of the best books I've ever read with strong characters and an unforgettable plot. This movie is NOTHING like the book. Nothing. The Cissie of the book was beautiful, strong, dignified and weighed down by the burden of having to feed and shelter nine children; the Cissie in the movie looked and acted like a street urchin who never displayed grief at losing her parents and who obviously never combed her hair.