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Gypsy
Gypsy
Mar 22, 2025 4:45 PM

Author:Lesley Pearse,Heather Bleasdale

Gypsy

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Gypsy by Lesley Pearse, read by Heather Bleasdale.

Gypsy is a compelling historical novel of survival from international number one bestselling author Lesley Pearse.

Liverpool, 1893, and tragedy sends Beth Bolton on a journey far from home ...

Fifteen-year-old Beth's dreams are shattered when she, her brother Sam and baby sister Molly are orphaned. Sam believes that only in America can they make their fortunes so, reluctantly leaving Molly with adoptive parents, brother and sister embark on the greatest adventure of their lives.

Onboard the steamer to New York there are rogues aplenty. But Beth's talent with the fiddle earns her the nickname Gypsy - and the friendship of charismatic gambler Theo and sharp-witted Londoner, Jack. And after dodging trouble across America, finally the foursome head for the dangerous mountains of Canada and the Klondike river in search of gold.

How far must Beth go to find happiness? And will her travels lead this gypsy to a place she can call home?

Praise for Lesley Pearse:

'With characters it is impossible not to care about . . . this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail

'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella

'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly

Find Lesley on Twitter @LesleyPearse or find out more on her website

Reviews

Gypsy is a compelling historical novel of survival from international number one bestselling author Lesley Pearse.

Tragedy sent her on a journey far from home . . .

—— from the publisher's description

With characters it is impossible not to care about . . . this is storytelling at its very best

—— Daily Mail

An emotional and moving epic that you won't forget in a hurry

—— Women's Weekly

Full of love, passion and heartbreak

—— Best

A lovely, warm, page-turner of a story filled with all the perfect ingredients - thought-provoking and emotional too, and with characters that feel like my kind of friends. Cathy’s best book to date!

—— Alex Brown

‘The Lemon Tree Café serves up double helpings of happiness, lashings of love, and leaves you feeling full, warm and hopeful.’

—— Debbie Johnson, author of Summer at the Comfort Food Café

a lively confection of the best kind…sweet as a piece of lemon shortbread

—— Fanny Blake, S Magazine

Uplifting, love-filled slice of brilliance *****

—— Heat

Cathy Bramley serves up the perfect concoction of charm and escapism

—— Sunday Express

Romantic, touching and funny - the perfect recipe. I love Cathy’s writing and her characters - her books are delicious

—— Rachael Lucas

Perfect, feel-good loveliness

—— Miranda Dickinson

Delightfully warm with plenty of twists and turns

—— Trisha Ashley

A gorgeous, gloriously romantic read with buckets of charm - I absolutely loved it!

—— Jill Mansell

A heartbreakingly beautiful story about friendship and unrequited love. I was totally and utterly captivated

—— Paige Toon

Warning: you will shed tears and end up booking a trip!

—— Prima

Prepare for tears and laughter

—— Fabulous

Unashamedly romantic

—— Sunday Express

Brilliantly evocative

—— Paige Toon

Brilliant, warm and beautifully judged - I raced through it

—— Cathy Kelly

A lovely, absorbing novel, full of beauty and mystery

—— Kate Eberlen

So evocative you can practically smell the paella and sangria

—— Closer

More than a book about sport it is a book about a young man struggling to find his groove in the rough and tumble of fairly unforgiving, male society.

—— Liam Heylin , Irish Examiner

In A Natural, Raisin delves into the life of a lower league English football team – a subject never covered before, as far as I know, in literary fiction. Perhaps it doesn’t sound an immediately appealing prospect. But he makes it wholly absorbing.

—— Theo Tait , London Review of Books

[A] gripping, well-written and moving story, which should interest anyone curious about enclosed worlds and hidden lives… Raisin captures both the sweat and the glory of football. He has mastered the register of manager-speak, with its urgently shouted clichés, and the earnest banter on fans’ messaging boards.

—— Sameer Rahim , Prospect

A Natural makes a conceptual leap that most old-style football fiction laboured to achieve: in the end its characters are as important as the milieu that tethers them and what emerges is an exceptionally good novel, which just happens to take place on a football pitch.

—— DJ Taylor , Guardian

Raisin provides an authentic portrayal of life in the lower divisions both on and off the pitch. The fine details are present in the pre-match nerves in the changing rooms, the neatly laid out kit and the smell of Deep Heat, but it is the unchecked laddishness, the fake camaraderie and the close scrutiny from supporters on social media that Raisin wants us to feel… This is a rare novel about the challenge of being a gay professional footballer and hopefully it will go some way to help changing perceptions in a sport that has still got a very long way to go.

—— Ian Aspinall , Late Tackle

Ross Raisin’s book about a gay footballer, demands about 200 pages of patience, but you won’t regret it. In the vertiginous second half of this rich, wise study of masculinity, Raisin demonstrates with extraordinary sensitivity how difficult it can be to attain E.M. Forster’s dictum, “Only connect!”

—— Claire Lowdon , Times Literary Supplement

The virtue of devastatingly simple storytelling was also felt in Ross Raisin’s A Natural…one of my favourite novels of the year, about a gay footballer hiding an affair with the groundsman at his struggling lower-league team.

—— Anthony Cummins , Daily Telegraph

A deeply moving portrait of fear and acceptance.

—— John Boyne , Irish Independent

This seems like one of those books designed to fold straightaway into contemporary liberal conversation.

—— The Skinny

Cause for jubilation . . . This proves her to be the reigning queen of British chick lit . . . insightful, funny and poignant

—— Daily Mail

Praise for Marian Keyes

—— -

Gloriously funny

—— The Sunday Times

Funny but poignant

—— Marie Claire

A total triumph

—— Daily Mail

Not only is it a great story with funny, loveable characters, it made me laugh out loud

—— Stylist

A beautifully written modern love story from Britain's best contemporary female author

—— Sun on Sunday

Wonderfully written and completely engrossing, with exquisitely drawn characters in a brilliantly plotted narrative. It will make you think long after you finish the final page

—— Daily Mail

A tender, funny and hopeful look at love, grief and life. Bumper box of tissues required

—— Stylist

A beautiful read

—— Hello

Funny, heart-warming and extremely wise

—— Prima

A deeply satisfying book full of big emotions

—— Good Housekeeping

A laugh-out-loud, rollicking good read and a very touching love story

—— Sunday Independent

Moyes is the queen of the classy weepy

—— Elle

A delight

—— The Daily Mirror

A sparkling novel of hope and sacrifice’

—— Glasgow Herald

Magical, heart-warming and time-bending story.

—— Mslexia
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