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Series

The Bailey Chronicles Series

The Bailey Chronicles centre on Bill Bailey, a large-hearted Tyneside widower whose building business and improvised family repeatedly draw him into other people’s crises. His courtship of Fiona Nelson joins two households, while children, relatives, employees and neighbours ensure that domestic stability is always provisional.

The four novels combine romance, comedy and social drama in contemporary North East England. Bill’s instinct to intervene can create as many complications as it resolves, but the series consistently returns to chosen family, loyalty and the practical work required to turn affection into a shared life.

Reading order

Books in this series (4 books)

Bill Bailey cover

1. Bill Bailey

Catherine Cookson

4.4(1,140)

From the moment Bill Bailey arrived to take up residence at Fiona Nelson’s home in the Tyneside town of Fellburn, he made his presence felt in no uncertain terms. As a young widow left badly off, and with three children to bring up, Fiona had come…

Bill Bailey’s Lot cover

2. Bill Bailey’s Lot

Catherine Cookson

4.5(623)

Bill Bailey, the rugged Liverpudlian, was now a fully-fledged Tyneside building contractor, as staunchly loyal to his squad of workmen as they were to him. He had also met and married Fiona, a young widow with her own loveable family, to which she and Bill shortly…

Bill Bailey’s Daughter cover

3. Bill Bailey’s Daughter

Catherine Cookson

4.4(1,140)

In this, the third novel of a trilogy, the atmosphere in the Bailey household was alive with anticipation. It was not only because Christmas was approaching, or even that Bill Bailey was tackling the biggest project of his career. No, all the excitement was because in…

The Bondage of Love cover

4. The Bondage of Love

Catherine Cookson

4.4(598)

Only after returning from his well-attended funeral did Fiona Bailey realise just how much she would miss Davey Love. Despite her initial doubts and prejudices about this rough-hewn Irishman, towards the end of his life she had discovered qualities about him she had previously overlooked. Above…