Mary Burchell
Ida Cook was born on 24 August 1904 in Sunderland, County Durham, 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, as part of the work they undertook to help Jews to escape from the Nazi regime, the sisters visited Germany on multiple occasions, using their genuine fanaticism for opera as a cover for their frequent travel. When returning to England, they smuggled valuables (such as jewellery), 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 had initially 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 honoured as Righteous among the Nations 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 Government. In 1936 Ida published her first romance novels as Mary Burchell. During her career she wrote 112 romances for Mills & Boon (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". She ghost-wrote Tito Gobbi's autobiography, "My Life". She was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in 1956 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre. In January 2017 Sunderland Council erected a blue plaque commemorating the sisters on the site of their childhood home at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland. In 2021, investigative journalist Isabel Vincent published "Two Against Hitler: The True Story of Two Courageous Sisters, a Rescue Mission in the Third Reich, and Opera," about the Cook sisters. In 2017 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 Vincent.
An episode of the documentary series "Mysteries of the Museum" was about the sisters' activities in rescuing Jews from Nazi Germany. #"A Song Begins", 1965 (Otello)
#"The Broken Wing" (later republished as Damaged Angel), 1966 (excerpts Così fan tutte, Semiramide, Norma (opera))
#"When Love is Blind", 1967 (Beethoven's 3rd Concerto)
#"The Curtain Rises", 1969 (The Magic Flute)
#"Child of Music", 1971
#"Music of the Heart", 1972
#"Unbidden Melody", 1973 (Eugene Onegin)
#"Song Cycle", 1974 
#"Remembered Serenade", 1975 (L'amore dei tre re)
#"Elusive Harmony", 1976 (Carmen, Otello, André Chénier)
#"Nightingales", 1980 (Mendolssohn's Elijah)
#"Masquerade with Music", 1982 (I Pagliacci))
#"On Wings of Song", 1985 (Alceste, Suor Angelica)
Biography ; Personal life
Ida Cook and her sister Mary Louise Cook (1901–1991) rescued Jews from the Nazis during the 1930s. The sisters helped 29 people escape, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honoured as Righteous among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.