Deception: The Sunday Times Bestseller 2022

Product Information

By the next evening, mum and kids are staying in a women's refuge and major plans to ensure a happier future are in motion. Of course, this doesn't sit too well with Don. One night, Eve decides to teach her husband a lesson... And it goes horribly wrong. Eve Hathaway has no option but to leave her violent husband but as with all bullies Don Hathaway refuses to admit that he has a problem and can't let Eve and his children have the peaceful life they crave. Setting up a new life for herself and her children isn't easy for Eve but with sheer grit and determination she takes them out of poverty and into a more settled existence except that Eve is burdened by a dreadful secret which overshadows her future happiness. The story then follows Eve and her children over the years after breaking free but it looks as if the past is always lurking around the corner waiting for the truth to come out and justice to be done. However, following our ‘bad / worst theme’ Amelia meets a new man who she hopes will give her the love, friendship and stability that so far has escaped her. Then Mr nice guy turns out to be bad as well (I can say no more) but worse than this she discovers the body of a young woman in a dumpster not far from her home. Young, beautiful but left like trash. The story is based in 1970’s London. Amelia White had a tough upbringing. Her mother is an alcoholic and very cold towards her and her siblings and her father was always using his fists to get out of anything including towards her. As soon as he could she left home. She manages to get a job at the local newspaper selling advertising space. But her dream is become a reporter a novelist.

Opening with a brutal act of violence upon his wife, Donny Hathaway establishes himself as a brute of the worst sort. This is clearly not the first time he has bestowed this casually bloody act on Eve, but the effect it has on her is to determine that it will be his last. To be honest, I am a little tired of the central characters being painted as very flawed individuals to make them seemingly more interesting. It turned me off this a bit from the outset. Once again we have a woman who is gullible and naïve, when women are generally quite intuitive. Seriously be original and write about a normal person but devise a great plot. Belle is a simple courtesan, but she knows that the assets she has now will not last. She is going to have to find a way out of this world, whether finding something else to do or escaping completely. Belle has to get out and get away from the men who want her attention and this world entirely. But the road ahead will be full of dangers, even for someone as resourceful as she is. With dreams of being a writer, she now works on a newspaper selling advertising. She very much keeps to herself with the occasional love interest but Amelia is very careful about any relationship she undertakes. She has seen the control that a man can exert and wishes for better choices in her own life.Now Lesley Pearse’s novels are loved across the globe due to her ability to captivate her readers and completely immerse them in the minds of her characters.

This is a book that reels you in from the first chapter, throwing the reader straight into the heart of the abuse and the sense of danger and urgency flowing through those first few chapters. The book does slow its pace in the middle part of this book as Eve and her children try to live a new normal life but once again the book takes a dramatic turn of events towards the latter part of the book and we are thrown into despair and the adrenalin flows as everything comes to a head.This is based in the 1970’s in West London. A time of power cuts and dustbin men going on strike. Amelias past family life was awful. A Father who drank aplenty and liked using his fists. A mother quite partial to the bottle too. Who neglected her children and had to fend for themselves. Told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. She left home at 15 and headed to London where she worked her way through many jobs – from corsetry sales, to musician’s muse, to nanny; from gift shop owner to dressmaker – finally finding her true vocation when she became a published author age 49.' From statistics we all know and are aware that some children grow to be just like their parents, but, there are choices and Amelia was aware of what was good and what was bad. What was right and what was wrong. I just love how the author takes a female and Makes her real for us readers. An ordinary woman who could be anyone. Showing their vulnerability as well depicting a strength from their inner side.

Also the writing style is written in a way my 15 year old self wrote fan fictions. Just so simple and boring. Bestselling author Lesley Pearse weaves her writing web of magnetism and lures you in with a tale of hard times, abuse and survival. Does Belle have the courage within herself to try and escape? Will she have any allies out there in her quest for freedom? Read this exciting book from wonderful author Lesley Pearse to find out! There were times where I just wanted to grab Eve and run away..like to hell with this world and all its downsides! But then here’s the contrasting thing…the book highlighted some really difficult subjects including marital abuse, grooming and suicide, to name but a few, and didn’t shy away from them, in fact it is a brutal start to the book….which then made the other parts seem so contrastedGot to say I don’t think I am the target audience for this book, generally I read a lot of what is classed ‘women’s fiction’ and love it but this for me actually did feel it was correctly labelled, a bit Mills and Boon ish in large swathes of it But she finds out about that and death too when one of the girls is murdered and she is witness to it. Belle is taken from her home and sold into prostitution in Paris by the killer. Now her entire world is not her own and when she is to go to New Orleans halfway across the planet, she is going to blossom from a young girl into a young woman that is more in control of her fate than ever.