Secrets of the Heart: a spellbinding saga about life in the East End during the Second World War from the bestselling author Gil

Description

The second novel in the spellbinding new series about life in the East End during the Second World War from the bestselling author of My East End. They believed it would never happen again. They hoped it would be over by Christmas... Britain is at war and the proximity of the docks means that life in and around London's Turnbury Buildings is hard and dangerous. Chances are taken, people have secrets, hearts are broken. And feelings about foreigners are running high. Sixteen-year-old Freddie Jarrett is secretly seeing a girl from the local Chinese community - a relationship that would be frowned on by both families, despite the fact that they all support the fight for freedom from oppression. And his sister Grace has her own secret to hide. A secret that no one outside the immediate family must ever know. As the threat of the Luftwaffe looms over the docks, the community is threatened with being torn apart by prejudice, fear and separation, and the disturbing loss of stability that brings with it the feeling that it is only what happens today that counts for anything...

Gilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End and continued to live and write there with her husband and family. She left school at fifteen but returned to education as a mature student. Secrets of the Heart is her eleventh novel. She has also had six non-fiction books published including the highly-acclaimed Sunday Times bestsellers, My East End and Our Street. Sadly she died on 24 September 2010 after a short illness.

Touching and evocative. _ * Active Life *