Martina Cole is a British crime writer, businesswoman and occasional television presenter. Cole was born in Essex, England, to Irish Catholic parents, and was the youngest of five children. Her mother was a psychiatric nurse from Glasnevin, County Dublin and her father was a merchant seaman from Cork City. Her cousin is Cork politician Denis Cregan. She was expelled from her convent school aged 15 after allegedly being caught reading a Harold Robbins novel. She married for the first time aged 16, but the marriage only lasted a year. She had her first child, Christopher, at the age of 18. Her parents both died when she was in her early 20s. Cole's breakthrough came in 1991 when her manuscript for Dangerous Lady was accepted by the literary agent Darley Anderson and sold for a record £150,000. The book was published by Headline the following year. As of 2015, she has released twenty-two novels about crime, most of which examine London's gangster underworld. In The Take, fresh out of prison, Freddie Jackson wants to rule the underworld. His wife Jackie wants her husband back and in her bed only. Jackie's sister Maggie wants to be with Jimmy, Freddie's cousin. And Jimmy has big gangland ambitions of his own. Everyone in the Jackson family wants something. And there's no such thing as loyalty. Listen online to free English audiobook "The Take” on our website to experience a novel by Martina Cole.
