Catherine Cookson: The Rag Nymph

Catherine Cookson's The Rag Nymph tells about a girl named Millie who loses her parents one way or another, and ends up being taken care of by the local junk dealer Aggie. Millie is unhealthily beautiful, and that's why all the men want her. Whether is good for her or not.

There's one thing you learn from Catherine Cookson's books: it's completely normal and even desirable for a grown man to fall in love with a child. A man is a great hero if he can wait until the child is 16 years old. And of course a man also falls in love with a child he's been taking care of since the girl was 7.

Apparently all of Cookson's books are full of pedophilia. And yet when I was young I devoured them, and I don't think I questioned them at all.