Mary Burchell

Ida Cook
Born (1904-08-24)24 August 1904
Sunderland, England
Died 22 December 1986(1986-12-22) (aged 82)
Pen name Mary Burchell
Occupation Novelist
Nationality British
Period 1936-1985
Genre Romance
Notable works The Warrender Saga
Relatives Mary Louise Cook (sister)
We Followed Our Stars by Ida Cook known to millions as Mary Burchell, 1950

Ida Cook (24 August 1904 – 22 December 1986) was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and a romance novelist as Mary Burchell.

Ida Cook and her sister Mary Louise Cook (1901–1991) rescued Jews from the Nazis during the 1930s. The sisters helped 29 people escape, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.[1]

Between 1936 and 1985, Ida Cook wrote 112 romance novels as Mary Burchell for Mills & Boon (many of which were later republished by Harlequin). She helped to found, and from 1966 to 1986 was the second president of, the Romantic Novelists' Association. In 1950 she wrote her autobiography, We Followed Our Stars, later re-edited and expanded as Safe Passage, which is currently in print.

Biography

Personal life

Ida Cook was born on 24 August 1904 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England.[2] With her elder sister Mary Louise Cook (1901–1991), she attended the Duchess' School in Alnwick and later took civil service jobs in London. Ida with her sister, Louise, developed a passionate interest in opera.[3]

During the 1930s, as part of the work they undertook to help Jews to escape from the Nazi regime, the sisters visited Germany on multiple occasions, using their true fanaticism for opera as a cover for their frequent travel. When returning to England, they smuggled valuables (such as jewellery), which allowed Jews fleeing Germany to satisfy the British financial security requirements for immigration. They worked with Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss and his wife, the soprano Viorica Ursuleac, who initially had told them of the persecution of the Jews. The sisters helped 29 people escape, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honoured as Righteous among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel. In 2010 they were posthumously named a British Hero of the Holocaust by the British Government.[4]

Writing career

In 1936, Ida published her first romance novels as Mary Burchell. During her career she wrote 112 romances for Mills & Boon (re-edited by Harlequin Books), including the famous The Warrender Saga, a series about the opera and concert hall world. She incorporated many famous operas (Otello, Eugene Onegin and Carmen, among others) into these Warrender series plots.

“ I concede that a bad romantic novel is embarrassing and indefensible. So is a bad so-called realistic novel. (And it is usually pretentious into the bargain which is insufferable.) But a good romantic novel is a heart-warming thing which strikes a responsive chord in those who are happy and offers a certain lifting of the spirits to those who are not. ”
— Mary Burchell at RNA's Newsletter[5]

In 1950, she wrote her autobiography, We Followed Our Stars, later re-edited and expanded as Safe Passage, which is currently in print.

She ghost-wrote Tito Gobbi's autobiography, My Life.[6]

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1956 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre.

Bibliography

[3]

As Mary Burchell

Single novels

The Warrender Saga

  1. A Song Begins, 1965 (Otello)
  2. The Broken Wing (later republished as Damaged Angel), 1966 (excerpts Così fan tutte, Semiramide, Norma (opera))
  3. When Love is Blind, 1967 (Beethoven's 3rd Concerto)
  4. The Curtain Rises, 1969 (The Magic Flute)
  5. Child of Music, 1971
  6. Music of the Heart, 1972
  7. Unbidden Melody, 1973 (Eugene Onegin)
  8. Song Cycle, 1974
  9. Remembered Serenade, 1975 (L'amore dei tre re)
  10. Elusive Harmony, 1976 (Carmen, Otello, André Chénier)
  11. Nightingales, 1980 (Mendolssohn's Elijah)
  12. Masquerade with Music, 1982 (I Pagliacci))
  13. On Wings of Song, 1985 (Alceste, Suor Angelica)

Omnibus collections

Anthologies in collaboration

As Ida Cook

Non-fiction

References and sources

  1. ↑ Mary Burchell at Yad Vashem site.
  2. ↑ "Rescue mission". The Telegraph. 14 July 2007.
  3. 1 2 Mary Burchell in Fantastic Fiction, retrieved 2008-09-08
  4. ↑ "Britons honoured for holocaust heroism". The Telegraph. 9 March 2010. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  5. ↑ Romantic Novelists' Association's Story
  6. ↑ Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center. "Entry for Gobbi, Tito". Retrieved 12 May 2014.
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