Mary Burchell

Ida Cook (24 August 190422 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. 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.

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:

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 investigative journalist Isabel Vincent.

In 2022, 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.