Author:Lesley Pearse
Take a journey across America with a poor Victorian flower girl in her epic journey to a better life, from the internationally bestselling author Lesley Pearse
As voted by readers as their favourite Lesley Pearse novel
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One good deed takes her into another world . . .
Sixteen-year-old Matilda is a poor Covent Garden flower girl until the day she saves the life of Tabitha, a minister's daughter. Welcomed into Tabitha's family, Matilda is offered the chance of a lifetime.
She leaves behind London's slums and enters the darkest corners of New York. Traveling across the vast plains to the Wild West, she finds herself in San Francisco, a city in the grip of the gold rush.
Streetwise and strong-willed, Matilda forges a new life for herself and Tabitha among pioneers like Captain James Russell - a man to whom she is deeply attracted.
Yet a civil war will soon rip apart this new nation . . .
Can Matilda and those she loves brave separation and carry on, never looking back?
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'With characters it is impossible not to care about . . . this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail
'Heart-warming and evocative . . . a real delight to read' Sun
'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella
'Utterly riveting, brilliant' Closer
'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly
The courageous tale of a poor Victorian flower girl, who makes an epic journey from London across a vast and wild America . . .
As voted by readers as their favourite Lesley Pearse novel, Never Look Back is by the international NO.1 BESTSELLING author.
With characters it is impossible not to care about . . . this is storytelling at its very best
—— Daily MailAn emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry
—— Woman's WeeklyAn immensely satisfying and entertaining historical novel.
—— Frost MagazineThe Waiting Hours vividly portrays England during the Second World War, revealing the role ordinary women played behind the scenes. If you’ve enjoyed Dean’s wartime sagas so far, this should be next on your list.
—— CultureFlyTouching, poignant and warm storytelling
—— Hair Past a Freckle BlogSaga fans will love The Waiting Hours and I would definitely recommend buying it as soon as possible
—— Shaz’s Book BlogThe characters feel real and authentic
—— Anne Bonny Book BlogI just could not put it down
—— Ginger Book GeekEllie Dean is such a fabulous storyteller. She never fails to deliver and I greatly Look forward to the next instalment.
—— Mojo MumsFor all of The Golden House’s folkloric architecture and twinkling prose, for all its impish cartoonery and exuberant storytelling, the novel is at its heart an unsettling portrait of the state of humanity in the United States of 2017. It celebrates our meager glories and exposes our flaws, particularly our inability to see outside of our own little cocoons, whether they be constructed of silk or some coarser material.
—— Nathaniel Rich , New York Review of BooksHis prose is just as often a pleasure, bursting with colour and texture… The result stands as Rushdie’s most vital book in years, and perhaps the first protest novel of the Trump era.
—— Stephen Phelan , HeraldA typically bold and all-encompassing saga.
—— Hilary A White , Irish IndependentRushdie is, as ever, excellent in conveying bitter, personal anger.
—— DJ Taylor , Literary ReviewTwo decades after Rushdie transplanted himself to the US, one of the major pleasures of this novel is the way in which he considers the mores of the one per cent of the one per cent. Rushdie writes about the Goldens’ glittering, private world with innumerable perfect details, down to the art hanging on the walls… It will be a long four years, but fictional protests are unlikely to be as electric as this.
—— Olivia Cole , GQHugely entertaining… Told against a backdrop of American politics and culture between Obama’s inauguration and the 2016 presidential election, it’s an extraordinarily powerful tale of our times.
—— Sue Price , Saga Magazine
[The Golden House] is a recognizably Rushdie novel in its playfulness, its verbal jousting, its audacious bravado, its unapologetic erudition, and its sheer, dazzling brilliance.
The Golden House is a searing examination of modern America and the world around it since 2008… Through the density of his intermingling literary references, puzzles and (deliberately) fanciful plot, comes Rushdie's true success: His great ability to capture the devilish mood of post-crash greed, political upheaval, and the rejection of the cosmopolitan, liberal west.
—— Peter Carey , Belfast Telegraph MorningRushdie’s prose is beyond much reprieve—there are few contemporary artists who come to mind that possess his ability to craft sentences. In this regard, The Golden House, his latest novel, is no exception... The Golden House is a joy to read… It’s hard to not have fun reading writing at Rushdie’s level of craftsmanship. It’s clever, intimidating, jocund, and electrifying.
—— Chicago Review of BooksThe Golden House is not Brideshead or Gatsby – it is too rich and too riotous. Rather it is a modern Bonfire of the Vanities, New York seen from the inside and the outside, as only a writer of multiple selves such as Rushdie – Indian, British, now a New Yorker – could do.
—— Aminatta Forna , GuardianRushdie’s story is a morality tale which unfolds with great verve and erudition, missing no opportunity to pillory Donald Trump with its withering contempt.
—— Richard Hopton , Country & Town HouseNo-one spins a yarn like Rushdie, and The Golden House’s tale of bastard sons, mysterious men and submerged pasts is hugely enjoyable… To say The Golden House is 'only' hugely enjoyable is a little like writing 'only' on a cheque for £1 million.
—— Ross McIndoe , SkinnySalman Rushdie has garaged the magic carpets and dived deep into 21st-century America, with its concerns about identity, guns, the 1 percent and even superheroes.
—— Jane Henderson , Miami HeraldIt couldn't have been done better
—— ScotsmanA visceral reworking of Oresteia
—— ObserverThe escalation of violence and desire for revenge has deliberate echoes of the Irish Troubles
—— Observer Books of the Year