In life and work, a truly gripping yarn

all the harder to become an author, and

the results, says Rebecca Ford , have

held millions hanging on her every word

My father's legacy gave me the strength to carry on and try to get a

book published. . . . No matter how many setbacks, I just said to myself

-- I'm going to do this

CHRISTINE Marion Fraser deprives men of their sex lives. Not directly,

she explains hastily, but her readers get so engrossed in her books that

they tend to forget everything and sit up until four in the morning to

finish them. This titbit gives her enormous satisfaction, since it

serves as evidence of her success as a powerful and entertaining

storyteller. Evidence backed up by the fact that she even outsells the

mighty Catherine Cookson in Scotland.

Her success began with Rhanna, a novel about life on a fictitious

Hebridean island. It has since been translated into several languages,

including Japanese, and has proved so popular that there are now seven

books in the series. Luckily for her loyal readers she is a prolific

writer and has also produced a Glasgow family saga -- the ''King's''

series; three volumes of autobiography; Beyond the Rainbow, a children's

book; and now Noble Beginnings (HarperCollins #14.99), the first in a

new series of books set in a nineteenth-century Argyllshire powdermill

town.

Success on this scale -- her sales have exceeded the million mark --

does not come by chance and Christine Marion Fraser is not only

hard-working, but also very determined. She's had to be. Born into a

poor Govan family, the youngest of nine children, she contracted a rare

illness at the age of 10. ''I was in hospital for nine months, then I

came out. From then on I was in and out for years. It virtually ended my

education. I really am self-educated.''

Such a severely stunted education would have been enough to deter many

people from becoming an author. And most would have given up altogether

if, like Christine Marion Fraser, the disease eventually defeated

medicine and left them confined to a wheelchair for life.

Yet the more she had to overcome, the more determined she became to

write. She was still undaunted when both her parents died before she was

20. Tenacity was her father's legacy. ''He was a tyrant in a way, a

dogmatic man. But he had a lot of good points too. He had a tenacious

character. He wouldn't give in to illness or anything -- and he drummed

this into us. He hated it if you cried. I suppose that's in me, that

determination of spirit. It's what really gave me the strength to carry

on and try to get a book published. No matter how many setbacks, I just

said to myself -- I'm going to do this.''

''This'' turned out to be Rhanna, her first published novel. The

writing was easy. ''It must have been maturing in my mind for a long

time, because when I came to think about it and to write about those

characters I found that I knew them so well.''

Publication was harder. It took three years for the book to be

published and even then she feels that sales suffered from a lack of

promotion. ''The people who read it loved it, but it got no hype. It

maddens me when I see a first novelist, with her first book, and it's

become a best seller. I say to myself -- mine would have been, if it had

got the recognition and the hype that it deserved.''

Why wasn't it promoted? ''If you're a Scottish writer, writing about

Scotland, it is very hard to break through the barriers of prejudice

into England. It's not the public, they love it. It's elements like the

bookshops who say -- 'oh no, a Scottish writer'. You have to be

categorised. It really annoys me. You don't see Catherine Cookson and

Josephine Cox filed away under English titles.''

Her latest project is to create a Famous Fiveish children's series,

which she has begun to write with her friend Frank Gallagher. ''It's

called 'The Callander Kids' and is good rip-roaring adventure stuff.

It's something I think kids would love. The first book is written and

away at the publishers, so we're waiting to hear.''

She is critical of much of today's children's fiction. ''The stuff

that's produced for children nowadays -- to me it's absolutely awful.

When you tell kids ordinary little adventure stories, they love it. They

want to hear more. I think they need escapism more than ever. But if you

suggest that to a publisher they'll throw it out. They'll say that kids

are way beyond that today.''

She feels that children's authors are being stifled by elements in the

publishing industry. ''It's very difficult when you come up against

children's editors. Everything has to be politically correct. They're

cramping everyone's style.''

Christine Marion Fraser is a down-to-earth woman, and her accent is

still a rich Glaswegian. But her writing has given her the means to

travel widely and to move to a comfortable house -- an old manse in

Argyll overlooking the Kyles of Bute.

I wonder how her contemporaries in Glasgow have received her fame.

''Everybody is delighted, but they also let you know that you mustn't

get too above yourself.'' Some people are resentful of her

Govan-to-glitter success story and going back to her old haunts can be

difficult. ''It's OK for five minutes, but eventually they'll say --

it's all right for you. You've got money. You've done well for yourself.

And it becomes that you can't be on that level any more -- there's a

divide. I sometimes feel that I'm floating in the middle.''

She finds this animosity hurtful. ''I think it's a very Scottish

thing. If they think you're really getting into the big time you'll get

folk who will come up and say -- 'have you not got anything in the

People's Friend?' That's where they want you to stay. One of their

favourite expressions is -- 'you don't know what it's like'.''

Well, Christine Marion Fraser does know what it's like. And she's not

going back now.