When Fifi moves to London with her bricklayer boyfriend Dan, her mother is outraged. Despite initial feelings of horror at her new surroundings, Fifi finds the freedom from her middle-class family background exhilarating. Insatiably inquisitive, Fifi is fascinated by her new neighbours and wants to know what goes on behind all those shabby front doors. Why is Yvette, the French dressmaker, such a hermit? Why doesn't widower Frank join his daughter and grandchildren in Australia? And why doesn't the formidable and well-bred Miss Diamond move somewhere smarter? But most of all she is ghoulishly fascinated by the Muckles who live opposite in terrible squalor. She listens to their violent quarrels, watches their ill-treated and wretchedly unhappy children, and is appalled by all she sees. When Fifi tries to help the Muckles' youngest child, who has been physically abused by her father, Fifi unwittingly unleashes a chain of events which will not only bring heart ache to her and Dan, but terrible danger to all the inhabitants of Dale Street...
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Lesley Pearse's novels have sold five million copies worldwide. Her fourteen most recent books, including Belle and Stolen - both of which went to Number One - are huge bestsellers and available as Penguin paperbacks. Lesley lives near Bristol and has three daughters and two grandchildren.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT TRANSACTION!,
By Yiayia Janet "Bk Luvr" (Near Chicago) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lesser Evil (Hardcover)
This item was well priced, carefully packed and quickly shipped! I was very pleased.
4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lesley Pearse can write! A very intense novel here-A+++,
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This review is from: A Lesser Evil (Paperback)
In the beginning of this book, Fifi Brown is in a coffee shop where she meets Dan, and it is love at first sight. Her mother doesn't approve though at all, so Fifi marries Dan in secret, then tells her parents after the fact. They then move on to London, where they a place in the slums on Dale Street. One of the first horrible neighbors they meet there are the Muckles. They are nothing but terrible trash, and have several kids unfortunately that are being mistreated. The saddest one is Angela, the youngest child, (about 6 years old), that is being abused both physically and sexually. Fifi keeps her eye out for the child, feeling sorry for her, and trying to act out of concern. Dan threatens Alfie, the daddy once when he sees him mistreating Angela, and hopes it won't happen again-but of course it does.
One day Angela doesn't go with the rest of the family and seems to be left behind in the house alone. Fifi thought this was strange, so being the overly-curious person she was, she finds a way to let herself into the Muckle's home. Once in, she finds deplorable living conditions that would make anyone very sick. And after going into the bedroon, finds little Angela dead-after being seriously raped and laying there naked. Someone had covered her with a clean sheet-which was unusual to see in such a dirty mess. So she proceeds of course to call the police, and after this event, life goes steadily downhill. Fifi is questioned of course, the Muckle's are thrown in jail after getting home that night, and all the other neighbors questioned as well by the police. Fifi is left with a terrible memory, and can't shake it, and she and Dan's marriage begins to fall apart over her state of depression. The police never find the answers the really need for a long time-that is not until Fifi is kidnapped one day and held hostage in a barn with a cage enclosure where she can't get out. A little bit later, her neighbor, Yvette is thrown in with her. They are not found until Dan gets to the bottom of the man seen in a jaguar and his identity-of whom was a buddy of the Muckles. He barely reaches Fifi in time, but Yvette isn't so lucky. After this point in the story, (near the ending), everything comes together. Fifi and her parents get back together. They wake up to what a great guy Dan really is, and mother and daughter finally begin to mend fences.
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