Ida Cook Popular Books

Ida Cook Biography & Facts

Ida Cook (24 August 1904 – 22 December 1986) was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and, as Mary Burchell, a romance novelist. Ida Cook and her sister 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 honoured as Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel. In 2010 she was recognised as a British Hero of the Holocaust with her sister. Between 1936 and 1985, under the pen name Mary Burchell, Ida Cook wrote 112 romance novels for Mills & Boon — many of which were later republished by Harlequin. She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, serving as its second president from 1966 to 1986. Biography Personal life Ida Cook was born on 24 August 1904 in Sunderland, County Durham, England. With her elder sister Louise Cook (1901–1991), she attended The Duchess's School in Alnwick and later took civil service jobs in London. Both sisters developed a passionate interest in opera. 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 enthusiasm for opera as a cover for their frequent travel and smuggled Jewish people's jewellery and other valuables across the German border, thereby enabling Jews fleeing Germany to satisfy British financial security requirements for immigration. They worked with Austrian conductor Clemens Krauss and his wife, the Romanian soprano Viorica Ursuleac, who had initially told them of the persecution of the Jews. The sisters enabled the escape of 29 Jews and others needing to flee from Nazi Germany, funded mainly by Ida's writing. The Cooks gave them an address to come to, a flat in Dolphin Square in Pimlico. Among those recued were Else Mayer-Lismann and her family. 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 the British Government named each of them a British Hero of the Holocaust. Writing career In 1936 Ida published her first romance novels as Mary Burchell. During her career she wrote 112 romances for Mills & Boon, later re-edited by Harlequin Books, including the famous Warrender Saga, a series about the opera and concert-hall world. She incorporated many famous operas (Otello, Eugene Onegin and Carmen, among others) into the Warrender series plots. She wrote in the Romantic Novelists' Association's newsletter: 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. In 1950 she published her autobiography, We Followed Our Stars. In 2008 it was re-issued, re-edited and expanded as Safe Passage. Cook was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1956 (its first series) when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre. She ghost-wrote Tito Gobbi's autobiography, My Life (1979). Legacy In January 2017, Sunderland Council erected a blue plaque commemorating the sisters on the site of their childhood home at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland. The same year, producer Donald Rosenfeld discussed plans to make a film of the sisters' humanitarian work and his efforts to unseal CIA files on their activities. The film was to be based on the research by Vincent. In 2022, investigative journalist Isabel Vincent published Overture of Hope about the Cook Sisters. An episode of the documentary series Mysteries at the Museum features the sisters' activities in rescuing Jews from Nazi Germany. In 2024, the Cook sisters and their work rescuing German Jews were the focus of an episode of History's Secret Heroes on BBC Radio 4. Bibliography Burchell's works include: As Mary Burchell Single novels Wife to Christopher, 1936 Except my Love, 1937 Nobody Asked Me, 1937 But Not For Me, 1938 Other Lips Have Loved You (later republished as Two Loves Have I), 1938 With All My Worldly Goods, 1938 Yet Love Remains, 1938 After Office Hours, 1939 Little Sister, 1939 One of the Family, 1939 Such is Love, 1939 I'll Go With You, 1940 Pay Me Tomorrow, 1940 Yours With Love, 1940 Accompanied by His Wife, 1941 Always Yours, 1941 Just a Nice Girl, 1941 Strangers May Marry, 1941 Love Made the Choice, 1942 Thine Is My Heart, 1942 Where Shall I Wander? (later republished as Bargain Wife), 1942 Dare I Be Happy?, 1943 My Old Love Came, 1943 Dearly Beloved, 1944 Take Me with You, 1944 Thanks to Elizabeth, 1944 Away Went Love, 1945 Meant for Each Other, 1945 Find Out the Way, 1946 First Love-Last Love, 1946 Wife by Arrangement, 1946 Not Without You, 1947 Under Joint Management, 1947 Ward of Lucifer, 1947 If You Care, 1948 The Brave in Heart, 1948 Then Come Kiss Me, 1948 Choose Which You Will, 1949 I Will Love You Still, 1949 If This Were All, 1949 Wish on the Moon, 1949 A Letter for Don, 1950 At First Sight, 1950 Love Him or Leave Him, 1950 Here I Belong, 1951 Mine for a Day, 1951 Tell Me My Fortune, 1951 Over the Blue Mountains, 1952 Stolen Heart, 1952 Sweet Adventure, 1952 A Ring on Her Finger, 1953 No Real Relation, 1953 The Heart Cannot Forget, 1953 The Heart Must Choose, 1953 Meet Me Again (later republished as Nurse Allison's Trust), 1954 Under the Stars of Paris, 1954 When Love's Beginning, 1954 The Prettiest Girl, 1955 Yours to Command, 1955 For Ever and Ever, 1956 Loving is Giving, 1956 On the Air, 1956 To Journey Together, 1956 And Falsely Pledge My Love, 1957 It's Rumoured in the Village, 1957 Joanna at the Grange, 1957 Love is my Reason, 1957 Loyal in All (later republished as Nurse Marika, Loyal in All), 1957 Dear Sir, 1958 Dear Trustee, 1958 Hospital Corridors, 1958 The Girl in the Blue Dress, 1958 Honey, 1959 Star Quality (later republished as Surgeon of Distinction), 1959 Across the Counter, 1960 Choose the One You'll Marry, 1960 Corner House, 1960 Paris—and My Love, 1960 My Sister Celia, 1961 Reluctant Relation, 1961 The Wedding Dress, 1961 House of Conflict, 1962 Inherit My Heart, 1962 Dangerous Loving, 1963 Sweet Meadows, 1963 Do Not Go, My Love, 1964/01 The Strange Quest of Anne Weston (later republished as The Strange Quest of Nurse Anne), 1964 Girl With a Challenge, 1965 Her Sister's Children, 1965 The Other Linding Girl, 1966 Cinderella After Midnight, 1967 The Marshall Family, 1967 Though Worlds Apart, 1967 Missing from Home, 1968 A Home for Joy, 1969 The Rosewood Box, 1970 Call and I'll Come, 1970 Second Marriage, 1971 One Man's Heart, 1971 The Warrender Saga A Song Begins, 1965 (Otello) The Broken Wing (later republished as Damaged Angel), 1966 (excerpts Così fan tutte, Semiramide, Norma) When Love is Blind, 1967 (Beethoven's 3rd Concerto) The Curtain Rises, 1969 (The Magic Flute) Child of.... 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