Personal life

Ida Cook was born 1904 in Sunderland, England. 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.

During the 1930s, the sisters visited Germany using their true fanaticism for opera as a cover for their frequent travel. When returning to England, they smuggled in valuables, 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 honored as Righteous Gentiles 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 Governnment.

Writing career

In 1936, Ida published her first romance novels as Mary Burchell. During her career she wrote more than 100 romances for Mills & Boon (reedited 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.

She also wrote some western novels as James Keene with the author William Everett Cook (aka Will Cook or Frank Peace).

In 1950, she wrote her autobiography, We Followed Our Stars', reedited as Safe Passage, currently in print.

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 Broken Wing (later republished as Damaged Angel), 1966
• 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

1. A Song Begins, 1965 (Otello)
2. The Broken Wing, 1966 (excerpts Così fan tutte, Semiramide, Norma )
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

• 3 Great Novels: Me With You; Choose Which You Will; Meant for Each Other (1975)
• 3 Great Novels: The Heart Cannot Forget; Ward of Lucifer; A Home for Joy
• 3 Great Novels: The Other Linding Girl; Girl with a Challenge; My Sister Celia
• It's Rumored in the Village / Except My Love / Strangers May Marry (1983)

Anthologies in collaboration

• Golden Harlequin Library Vol. VIII: Choose The One You'll Marry / Sweet Barbary / Senior Surgeon at St. David's (1970) (with Pamela Kent and Elizabeth Gilzean)
• Golden Harlequin Library XLI: Over The Blue Mountains; Summer Lightning; Lucy Lamb; Doctor's Wife (1973) (with Sara Seale and Jill Tahourdin)
• Tell Me My Fortune / A Scent Of Lemons / Country Of The Wine (1979) (with Jill Christian and Mary Wibberley)
• Harlequin Classic Library (1980) (with Elizabeth Hoy, Alex Stuart, Susan Barrie, Juliet Shore, Jean S. MacLeod, Elizabeth Houghton and Jill Tahourdin)
• Just a Nice Girl / Pride of Madeira / Valley of Paradise (1983) (with Elizabeth Hunter and Margaret Rome)
• The Hills of Maketu / Under the Stars of Paris / Every Wise Man (1986) (with Gloria Bevan and Jacqueline Gilbert)

As Ida Cook

Non-fiction

• We Followed Our Stars (1950), rereleased as Safe Passage (2008) (autobiography)

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