Sally Worboyes Bücher

An absorbing, frigtening, brilliant novel from the author of Over Bethnal Green and At the Mile End Gate

Emotions are running high, with Blackshirts marching through the streets and the Jewish community under threat. Jessie find it alarming, particularly as her boyfriend is Jewish, but there is more to worry her. Her mother, Rose, is reluctant to reveal the past, and then there's Emmie and Hannah.

Jessie Warner has married Tom Smith and their baby is almost due. Settling down into their new home in Bethnal Green, Jessie looks forward to her new life even though Tom is continually getting into mischief that borders on the downright criminal. Then the grim outside world intrudes when war begins and Tom is called up almost at once, leaving Jessie to cope alone when the air raids start over the East End. And when Tom does a runner and goes AWOL, things get rapidly worse. Meanwhile Jessie's clever twin Hannah has been recruited to help at Bletchley Park, cracking the Germans' communications code.

Anna has everything to make her happy - a husband, a lovely little house in Bethnal Green, two much-longed-for twin baby boys. But recently her husband Frank has been acting differently. He's started coming home late, drinking more heavily. More than once Anna has been sure she's caught a whiff of perfume on his shirts. When confronted, Frank brushes Anna's cautious questions aside, but somehow, Anna knows deep down that something is wrong in their marriage. Anna's sisters run an upmarket escort agency from a fine Victorian house nearby. It can be a risky business, but watching the carefree, laughter-filled banter of the women who work there, Anna begins to long for the girl she once was. Does being a wife and mother really mean that her dancing days are over? Maybe not. Old family friend Rob, a policeman who walks a fine line between right and wrong, is keen to show Anna a good time, even if her husband isn't...

The war is over and the soldiers are coming back to the bomb-ravaged East End. Tom Smith is one of the thousands who are returning home. It's been an eventful war, what with a spell of desertion, and Tom can't wait to see his wife Jessie, their son Billy and the new baby daughter he hasn't even laid eyes on. But life back home wasn't easy either, especially when Jessie's army pension was stopped. So when she told to put Emma-Rose into a home for her own good, she thought it was best. But how will Tom take the news - and will they be able to get their daughter back?

Rosie Curtis is devastated when her brother Tommy is viciously murdered after dabbling in the criminal underworld. Without Tommy's support, her dreams of becoming a dancer are shattered. Powerless to avenge her brother's death, Rosie throws herself into saving a local music hall from closure and planning a musical spectacular. But when Rosie comes face to face with her brother's slayer, she realizes she must stop at nothing to see the criminals punished.

Growing up in Bethnal Green, Charlotte longs for the day when she's old enough to put on her gladrags and be part of the swinging 60s. But her parents have other plans and move out to the quiet of the countryside, leaving Charlie pining for London as she grows into a beautiful young woman. So when a childhood friend walks back into Charlie's life just as she turns 18, it seems like the chance she's been waiting for to return to the bright lights. Surrounded by friends and family, it's everything she's ever dreamed of. But Charlie's dreams are shattered when brutal violence strikes close to home. For it turns out that London has a dark side too...

London, 1960. Patsy Lamb is turning 17 at the start of a decade that will change everything. The slums of the East End are making way for the new modern lifestyle that is being promised to Patsy's generation. But as Patsy looks to the future, her world is rocked by a secret from her past.

In 1876 the homes of the poor working class in the East End are being replaced by splendid houses for the rich. When a woman is found killed in Toacco Dock and her lover is arrested, Maria attempts prove his innocence. But the murderer is closer to home than she thinks.

It is 1970 and Kathy Dean, with her baby and a hard-working husband, is struggling to make ends meet. Johnny may have a good job at the docks but he is also an obsessive gambler. Desperate she gives him an ultimatum, but Johnny owes favours to the wrong sort.