Lesley Pearse est une maîtresse conteuse, tissant des récits captivants qui captivent les lecteurs du début à la fin. Ses romans transcendent une classification de genre facile, explorant le crime, l'aventure historique et des thèmes passionnément émotionnels qui engagent pleinement le lecteur. Un élément récurrent dans son œuvre explore l'impact émotionnel des expériences d'enfance, reflétant sa propre vie précoce. Pearse marie habilement la douleur et le malheur de ses années de formation avec un don unique pour la narration, créant des personnages inoubliables.
Dans l'Angleterre victorienne du XIXe siècle, Hope grandit dans une famille aimante, les Renton, entourée de frères et soeurs. Elle ignore qu'elle est en fait la fille illégitime de lady Anne Harvey. A la mort des Renton, Nell, la servante qui leur avait confié l'enfant, la fait entrer au service des Harvey. Après avoir quitté le domaine et être devenue infirmière, Hope rencontre B. Meadows.
En Angleterre entre 1931 et 1944. Adèle a assisté, à 12 ans, à la mort de sa petite soeur. Sa mère la rend responsable du drame et la brutalise. Après plusieurs séjours en foyers et familles d'accueil, Honour, la grand-mère d'Adèle, accepte d'accueillir la fillette chez elle. Adèle va alors découvrir l'amour avec Michael Bailey mais la guerre et les révélations de sa mère détruisent ses rêves.
Charity Stratton's bleak 1960s childhood in Greenwich is changed for ever when both her parents are killed in a fire. Sent out to work as a skivvy at a boys' boarding school, she becomes pregnant, and runs away to London, determined to be reunited with her siblings and begins to forge a new life.
From a much-loved author, a gripping story about two children sent to an Australian orphanage in the fifties. All her life, people have told little Dulcie Taylor they'll look after her and her sister May. And every time, her trust has been betrayed. Yet when they are given a new start in a young and exciting country, she really believes it will be a fresh chance for them both. But the new life the sisters hoped for turns out to be a vicious illusion. Then Dulcie meets Ross, another orphanage survivor, and finds a kindred spirit - but the pain of the past is always there, and for Dulcie and May it will be a hard struggle to learn to trust again. Unloved, unwanted, does Dulcie have enough strength and spirit to fight for the happiness she deserves, and protect her younger sister?
Sixteen-year-old Matilda is a poor Covent Garden flower girl until the day she saves the life of Tabitha, a minister's daughter. Welcomed into Tabitha's family, Matilda is offered the chance of a lifetime. She leaves behind London's slums and enters the darkest corners of New York. schovat popis
Set against a background of post-wartime deprivation, glittering showgirls and seedy provincial boarding houses, this is the story of two young girls from different backgrounds. The girls form a strong friendship as they both follow their ambitions to make a living for themselves on the stage.
London, 1914. Belle Reilly finally has the life she's dreamed of thanks to a devoted husband in Jimmy and the hat shop she's wanted to own since she was a child. But as the storm clouds of World War One begin to gather, Belle's already turbulent life is to change in ways she never imagined possible. When Jimmy enlists in the army and leaves for the battlefields of Ypres, her world is shattered and she realises she can no longer stand by and watch, she must volunteer to help the wounded. But her work as a Red Cross ambulance driver in France throws her into the path of Etienne, the enigmatic man who played a significant role in her childhood, and Belle finds herself torn agonisingly between forbidden passion and loyalty to a good man. But the past returns to haunt her present in other - more unpleasant - ways and Belle's character is put to the test like never before. Can she survive this most brutal of wars with her spirit intact? And will destiny finally lead her to lasting happiness even while war rages all around?
How far must you go to find love?The Queen of Storytellers is back - with a triumphant tale of one woman's struggle over adversity.In 1786 a fisherman's daughter from Cornwall called Mary Broad was sentenced to be hung for theft. But her sentence was commuted, and she was transported to Australia, one of the first convicts to arrive there.How Mary escaped the harsh existence of the colony and found true love, and how she was captured and taken back to London in chains, only to be released after a trial where she was defended by no less than James Boswell, is one of the most gripping and moving stories of human endeavour (based on an amazing true story) you will ever read
Can good come from evil?Will Rosie ever escape from her brutal brothers?As a child Rosie Parker spent the war years battling her brutish half-brothers Seth and Norman on the farm under the less-than-watchful eye of her father Cole. But when housekeeper Heather Farley arrives, Rosie finds a mother - and a friend - to look after her.Several years later, Thomas Farley comes to find his sister. Rosie can only tell him that she disappeared in mysterious circumstances, abandoning her small son Alan. Determined to get young Alan and Rosie out of the clutches of Cole and his sons, Thomas helps unearth a terrible truth about the family. A truth that forces Rosie away from the farm and out into a cruel world where she must somehow come to terms with her shocking past. Is it possible that the man who brought ruin on her family might also bring happiness to Rosie?
Be transported from London to New Orleans and beyond in this powerful, moving historical novel from the international bestseller Lesley Pearse She witnessed a murder - and now her life is in danger . . . Fifteen year-old Belle, though raised in a London brothel, is an innocent young girl. But when she witnesses one of the girls brutally strangled by a client, she is cast into a cruel, heartless world. Snatched from the streets and sold into prostitution, she is made a courtesan in New Orleans. At the mercy of desperate men who crave her beauty and will do anything to keep her, Belle's dreams of home, family and freedom appear futile. Are Belle's courage and spirit strong enough to help her escape? And what will await her at the end of the long, dangerous journey home? Praise for Lesley Pearse 'With characters it is impossible not to care about . . . this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail 'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella 'Glorious, heartwarming' Woman & Home 'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly
