The Round Tower

A Catherine Cookson Classic

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This is one of those books you just fall into. You keep telling yourself “I’ll read just a few more pages” and hours later you’re still sitting there, reading.

This is a story about classism and betrayal, but it is mostly about finding love where you least expect it. It is possibly one of the best Catherine Cookson novels I’ve read…and she has many. It was also made into a film in 1998.

I think I fell in love with this book because of its easy relatability. It’s an old novel based on family scandal (a word Trinis love) and a rags to riches story. The characters range from upstarts, ‘old money’ and bitter neighbours.

It is set in mid-1950s England and the story weaves around the wealthy Ratcliffe family. The daughter, Vanessa Ratcliffe is the opposite of her stuck-up, selfish family and is a romantic. Unlike her family, she does not believe in marrying for money but instead seeks out love. She thinks she has found it in an old friend of the family who is trapped in a loveless marriage. Instead she becomes pregnant and has to stand the consequences on her own. She refuses to reveal who the father is and her parents, being ‘uppity’ as they are, are sure that the father is Angus Cotton, their maid’s son. They refuse to acknowledge the possibility that an educated, wealthy person could do this to their daughter, so it must be a poor man who preyed on their innocent daughter.

Angus denies it but when Vanessa is shunned by her family, he takes her in and marries her to protect her from a bad reputation. His mother gives her a hard time because she thinks Vanessa is selfish for letting her son Angus take the fall. Angus on the other hand, turns out to be a gentle soul and an ambitious son with vision. He treats her kindly and eventually falls in love with her. He wants to treat her like a queen.

Amidst the wagging tongues of society, her family who has disowned her and trying to fit in with Angus’ family, Vanessa finds her inner strength. She stands by Angus , falls in love with him and together they forge a life of happiness. He shows her he is not the poor, stupid man she thinks he is, even successfully starting his own business.

After many hardships, trials, ups and downs, Angus moves up the ladder from rags to riches and purchases the house next door to the Ratcliffe family. Now that he is on the same social standing as them, Vanessa’s family is forced to acknowledge that Angus is their equal…and that turns out to be a tough pill for them to swallow.

However, it is touching to see how love could break down the wall set by society between the rich and the poor. And it goes to show, that just because someone is poor does not mean they are not progressive.