Verity was privately educated, living in a beautiful Hampstead home, while Ruby was being raised in extreme poverty. She learned about the Soho club scene and the music business during the Sixties with the late John Pritchard.

A lire absolument Je trouve que tous les livres de Lesley Pearse devraient être traduits en français afin que ceux qui ne lisent pas l'anglais puissant apprécier cet auteur extraordinaire. Verity on the other hand, is from a wealthy family who live in a big house, and she never has to worry where the next meal will come from, but underneath the facade, both girls have their own worries and secrets. When Verity, a young girl from a modest background, meets Ruby, a girl of similar age living in the slums with her prostitute Mother, it sets off a chain reaction of events that the two girls will share. 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. The story begins in 1935 when Ruby and Verity are young girls in their teens and meet on Hampstead Heath.Verity and Ruby should never have met given that they came from such diverse backgrounds, but it was very much a chance meeting that brought them together to form this unlikeliest of friendships. Convicted and sentenced to be transported to Australia, she endures horrific conditions aboard ship before landing in a brutal and barbaric country. The story also makes you pause and think what may be going on right under your nose and neighbourhood with out realising.

But regardless of all this Ruby and Verity have a connection as if they were always destined to meet and be there for each other no matter what life struggles and hardships may be placed in their way. She also neatly slipped in worldwide events ongoing at the time which had an impact on both the girls.

Verity is the daughter of a wealthy household, a young lady in every way, with poise and manners that quite belies her young age. The obvious overkill of a man stuffed in a trunk of a car is just the beginning of this who done it with plenty of possible suspects. It is by no means an easy existence and is made all the more difficult when Annie unknowingly becomes embroiled in a murder mystery that will threaten her life and the lives of everyone she holds dear. In the book we follow the lives of two young girls, Ruby and Verity, as they charter the course of their lives through the 1930’s post war era through to the Second World War.

Those were the last words that Annie spoke to Alice before turning her back on their family and vanishing without a trace. like also I don't want to admit it but I thought this was by a different author so that's the only reason I read it. This part was not something I felt was needed and I felt the character deserved much more, especially with how far they had come. It was an extraordinary childhood and in all her books, Lesley has skilfully married the pain and unhappiness of her early experiences with a unique gift for storytelling.Verity comes from a rich family and, in contrast to the general conception of girls who live a privileged life like her, she is a sweet, caring girl. The score of 4 stars is only because I think the reader needs to have read the previous books to make it a 5 star book. The story again picked up a gear during this period and coupled with a more sinister force made for a very gripping read where the reader is nervous as to how things can resolve themselves in the face of danger, greed and revenge. We hear lots more about the officers' private lives and their interactions with each other in this volume. A poor condition book can still make a good reading copy but is generally not collectible unless the item is very scarce.