Book excerpt: This is a real life detective story, tracking down the missing father of one of Britain's most famous authors - the father she didn't want anyone to know about literature out of the personal tragedies of her working class upbringing and early life in the industrial North East. Her biographer gives this account of her search to discover the truth of Cookson's childhood and the mystery of her father's identity. As the story unfolds, the reader is led to a deeper understanding of the demons that drove Cookson to become one of the most popular novelists of her day. It is a story of terrible poverty, of harsh lessons learnt generation after generation, but also of hope and eventual reconciliation.