A heartbreaking family saga set in 1950s Liverpool, the first novel from the stunningly talented Nadine Dorries MP.
1950s Liverpool.
In the tight-knit Irish Catholic community of the Four Streets, two girls are growing up. One is motherless - and hated by the cold woman who is determined to take her dead mother's place. Will her adored father wake up to what is happening before it is too late? The other is hiding a dreadful secret which she dare not let slip to anyone, lest it rips the heart out of the community. And yet, how long can she possibly live with it?
In the Four Streets there is almost nothing that a cup of tea and a good chat won't sort out. Laughing, grieving, hoping for better things - all this the people of the Four Streets can do together. But what can they do when a betrayal at the very heart of their world comes to light?" Heartbreaking, gripping, life-affirming, this story, based on Nadine Dorries's own early life, is set in the Catholic community in 1950s Liverpool, where young men and women, fleeing the poverty of rural Ireland, have come to seek a better life.
Jerry and Bernadette are two such characters, determined to better themselves for the sake of their children - except that the plan goes wrong and Jerry is left alone to bring up their baby daughter, Nelly. Can his broken spirit and the warmth and love of the people of the Four Streets overcome despair, for Nelly's sake? And will Jerry see, before it is too late, the cold heart of the woman who is determined to take Nelly's mother's place?