International bestselling author Lesley Pearse has lived a life as rich with incidents, setbacks and joys as any found in her novels. 
 
 By the mid sixties she was living in London, sharing flats, partying hard and married to a trumpet player in a jazz-rock band. She has also worked as a nanny and a Playboy bunny, and designed and made clothes to sell to boutiques. 
 
 It was only after having three daughters that Lesley began to write. She published her first book at forty-nine and has not looked back since. 
 
 Lesley is still a party girl.

Lesley Pearse

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Lesley Pearse didn't publish her first novel until she was 48. Now she has sold over ten million books around the world and is a constant presence on the bestseller chart. 
 
A writer of heart-stopping stories, Lesley's books are filled with heroines struggling to make it in a difficult world. 
 
Yet this description could apply to Lesley herself. In this, her first ever autobiography, she tells of growing up in an orphanage after her mother's death, her racy twenties in London during the swinging sixties and working as a bunny girl and dressmaker. 
 
Packed full of Lesley's signature warmth, wit and poignancy, this is the story of a woman and a writer fighting against the odds to achieve her dreams.

The Long and Winding Road

My Autobiography

THE GRIPPING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
What happens when the person closest to you has led a life of deception? 
 
'Full of suspense and intriguing characters' MY WEEKLY 
'A gritty, gripping drama' WOMAN'S WEEKLY 
_______ 
 
No one wants to believe their mother is a liar . . . 
 
After her mother's funeral, Alice Kent is approached by a man who insists he's her real father. Initially upset and disbelieving, Alice soon discovers that tugging at this loose thread unravels the expertly woven tapestry of lies which was her mother Sally's life. 
 
Faced with this staggering deception, Alice decides she must learn the whole, terrible truth about her mother. 
 
But is she prepared for the dark journey back to Sally's traumatic childhood and the evil forces which came to shape the woman who claimed to love her? 
_______ 
 
'Brilliantly builds intrigue' WOMAN & HOME 
 
'A raw, truthful and moving account, building intrigue as Alice gradually uncovers her mother's life of deception, lies - and love' WOMAN'S WEEKLY 
 
'Written with Pearse's typically engaging and effortless style of storytelling, Deception is an intriguing book of highs, lows, struggles and perseverance' CULTUREFLY 
 
Praise for Lesley Pearse 
 
'Storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail 
 
'Gripping and suspenseful' Daily Express 
 
'A twisting and intense read' Woman's Own 
 
 
Lesley Pearse, Sunday Times bestseller, March 2024

Deception

She witnessed a murder - and now her life is in danger . . . 
 
Fifteen year-old Belle, though raised in a London brothel, is an innocent. But when she witnesses one of the girls brutally strangled by a client, she is cast into a cruel, heartless world. Snatched from the streets and sold into prostitution, she is made a courtesan in New Orleans. At the mercy of desperate men who crave her beauty and will do anything to keep her, Belle's dreams of home, family and freedom appear futile. 
 
Are Belle's courage and spirit strong enough to help her escape? And what will await her at the end of the long, dangerous journey home? 
 
Lesley Pearse, author of Number One bestseller Stolen, has done it again with Belle - a heroine for our times: a strong woman trying to be good in a world gone bad.

Belle

Somerset, 1836, and baby Hope is cast out from a world of privilege as living proof of her mother's adultery ... 
 
Smuggled away from the Harveys and Briargate House to a nearby village, Hope grows up in the arms of the warm and loving Renton family, unaware of her true identity. But fate has harsh plans for Hope and a chain of events sees her forced to lead a vagabond's existence until she finds the courage to fight back and prove herself a fearless and able nurse, a vocation that takes her to the horrific battlefields of the Crimea. 
 
But the secrets of the past are not yet done with Hope Renton and she must return to England to face the legacy of her birth ... 
 
With the storytelling magic that has won Lesley Pearse millions of fans, Hope is the portrait of a remarkable woman who will never let the world - or injustice - bring her down.

Hope

A beloved classic by the Sunday Times, multi-million copy bestselling author 
 
Charity Stratton is just fifteen when her world shatters. After losing her parents in a terrible fire, she’s separated from her beloved siblings and forced into servitude. 
 
Her life as a boarding school kitchen maid is backbreaking and lonely. And her brief moments of joy with a dashing student end in heartbreak when she becomes pregnant. 
 
But Charity’s spirit refuses to be broken. Escaping to London, she finds a city teeming with both opportunity and peril. Will Charity's resilience be enough to overcome the odds, reunite her family and build a better life for them all? 
 
_________________ 
 
Praise for Lesley Pearse: 
 
'I couldn’t put this book down. Although harrowing at times, Lesley’s indomitable spirit shines through. What an inspiration, what a book!' - Katie Fforde 
 
'Fabulously entertaining... a poignant and powerful story that is truly unputdownable.' - Milly Johnson 
 
'A totally gripping read, by turns tragic, mad-cap, heartbreaking and mind-blowing. And anyone who can read that final chapter without bursting into happy tears has to have a heart of stone.' - Jill Mansell 
 
'An incredible life story from a literary icon, Lesley Pearse’s truth is even more gripping than her fiction' - Veronica Henry 
 
'Inspiring, heart-warming, extraordinary' - Woman's Weekly 
 
'Humorous and heartbreaking... I was so gripped I read it twice' - Kate Furnivall 
 
'What a roller coaster of a ride. I couldn't do anything else until I'd finished this book. Gripping, heart wrenching... an amazing read' - Jo Thomas

Charity

Set in the 1930s, the classic novel from bestselling author Lesley Pearse tells the story of one girl's struggle against cruelty and, her quest for love. 
 
Twelve-year-old Adele Talbot's unhappy mother Rose succumbs to madness after a family tragedy and Adele is placed in a bleak children's home. But when her trust is betrayed she runs away - hoping to find her grandmother in Sussex. 
 
By the time she does so, Adele is desperately ill and has to be nursed back to health among the beautiful Rye Marshes. And then she meets the wonderful Michael Bailey. 
 
As friendship blossoms into love and they come of age together - Adele becoming a nurse and Michael joining the RAF - she believes she can put her troubled past behind her. But with the outbreak of war and the sudden appearance of Rose, bearing shocking family secrets, suddenly all of Adele's hopes appear impossibly fragile ...

Secrets

Eve should never have married Don Hathaway. He is a bully. Worse than that, he hurts her. 
But, after one drunken rage too many, she has the courage to leave him. It's a difficult path, yet she needs to give her children hope for the future. 
Don, however, is bitter. And getting away entirely from him proves impossible. 
Until the day, Eve tries to teach him a lesson - and it all goes horribly wrong. 
Eve loves her children but now she carries a terrible burden that she dares not share. Has she betrayed her and her children's futures?

Betrayal

London 1941When Mary meets a glamorous stranger named Elizabeth she realises their lives couldn’t be more different.But when an air raid forces them to take shelter underground Mary’s life is set in change forever.After waking up in hospital, injured but alive, the nurse mistakes her for Elizabeth and hands over her suitcase with Elizabeth’s money and tickets to Ireland inside.This is Mary’s chance to escape the hardship of her life and start afresh.What could go wrong?

The Girl with the Suitcase

Is there a murderer across the street? 
 
It's 1964 and twenty-three-year-old Katy Speed is fascinated by Gloria and the goings-on at the house over the road. Who are the mysterious women arriving in a black car most Saturdays? 
 
Then one night, Gloria's house burns to the ground. In the wreckage, bodies are found. And Katy's horror turns to disbelief when her father is arrested and charged with murder. 
 
Determined to prove his innocence, Katy sets out to uncover the truth about the mysterious house across the street. But that means uncovering the real murderer - and risking her own life . . .

The House Across the Street

On the day Nina and Conrad Best move into their new home in picture-perfect Willow Close, a body is discovered. 
 
The residents gather around a police cordon - one of their neighbours has been brutally killed in the woods. 
 
As police interview witnesses, they soon discover each resident hiding their own secrets. Because few in the Close are exactly who they seem. 
 
Nina and Conrad thought they'd found their dream home. 
 
But have they moved into a nightmare?

Suspects

The emotionally gripping Sunday Times bestseller from Britain’s favourite storyteller

War threatens to take all she has loved and lived for . . . 
 
When Belle Reilly's husband Jimmy enlists and heads for the trenches of Northern France, she knows she cannot stand idly by awaiting his return. Volunteering to help the wounded, Belle is posted to France as a Red Cross ambulance driver. There, tragedy brings her face to face with Etienne, a man from her past who she'd never quite forgotten. 
 
Torn between forbidden passion, loyalty and love, Belle is caught in an impossible situation. Will the brutality and carnage of war make the honorable path the hardest one to take? Or will fate intervene and finally lead her to lasting happiness?

The Promise

Fifteen-year-old Maisy Mitcham and her twin brother Duncan lose their mother to an asylum one night in 1960. 
 
The twins are sent to their grandmother's country house, Nightingales. Cold and distant, she leaves them to their own devices, to explore and to grow. That is, until the day Duncan doesn't come home from the woods. 
 
With their grandmother seeming to have little interest in her grandson's disappearance, and the police soon giving up hope, it is left to Maisy to discover the truth. And she will start with Grace Deville. A woman who lives alone in the wood, about whom rumours abound . . .

The Woman in the Wood

A missing teenager. An outcast woman. And a girl determined to find the truth . . . From the Sunday Times bestselling author

Amelia White always dreamed of being a reporter . . . 
And it might never have happened if she hadn't stumbled on a young woman's body. Horrified at the lies being spread about this murder victim, Amelia talks a newspaper editor into letting her tell the true story.Yet when more bodies turn up, it's clear the police are baffled. 
Uncovering new witnesses as well as suspects in her search for clues, Amelia realises that the only way to stop the murders is to find the liar among them. 
But will doing so make her the killer's next victim?

Liar

London, 1939 
 
Eighteen-year-old Mari is defiant, strong-willed and selfish. 
 
She has craved independence her entire life and now, with the world on the brink of war, Mari has finally escaped the sleepy fishing village of her childhood in New Zealand. After passionately falling for Morgan, the Cockney steward aboard ship on her voyage to England, she hastily dismisses him in favour of being taken out by handsome young pilots in the glamorous West End. 
 
But, without warning, the Blitz blows her new life apart. Now Mari has the chance to make a difference but can she learn from her mistakes in time?

Survivor

A gripping and emotional story from the bestselling author of Stolen

From the slums of Victorian London to a New World ... 
 
Matilda Jennings was a poor flower girl in Covent Garden until the day she saved the life of a minister's daughter called Tabitha. Drawn into the bosom of little Tabitha's family, she little realises it will soon mean uprooting her own life. 
 
For Matilda leaves Victorian London's slums and heads first for the darkest corners of New York, then beyond into the plains of the Wild West and San Francisco's gold rush. With only her beauty, intelligence and the strong will she forged on London's streets to guide her, Matilda must create a new life for herself and Tabitha. Between the sweat and tears, heartbreak and passion, she encounters Captain James Russell, a man in whom she might find true love. A love that must withstand separation, war and the birth pangs of a new nation. But through it all, Matilda knows she must never look back . . .

Never Look Back

In the East End, twelve-year-old Tara witnesses her villain of a father almost kill her mother. She forges a determination then and there to change her life. 
 
This is the story of three beautiful and talented women. Mabel, whose great love for a gambling man has brought her close to insanity; gentle Amy, who marries a man brutalised by war and failure; and Tara, who is hungry for success and life on her own terms. 
 
To have both, she must battle against the legacy these two women have left her, the deep prejudices and dangers of Whitechapel in the 1960s - with its gang leaders, rogues, market traders and dolly birds - and the passionate love she has had since girlhood for the charming wideboy and villain, Harry Collins.

Tara

Coronation Day, 1953. 
 
Molly Heywood slips away from the celebrations and makes a shocking discovery: her friend Cassie is dead and her six-year-old daughter Petal has vanished without a trace. 
 
The only clue is a letter from London, where Cassie once lived. Now it is up to Molly to head to there and uncover the past that her friend kept so well hidden. 
 
The closer Molly gets to the truth, the more perilous her journey becomes. She has given up everything - her home, happiness and a chance at love - all to find Petal. But is she also risking her life?

Without a Trace

Will Rosie ever escape from her brutal brothers? 
 
As a child Rosie Parker spent the war years battling her brutish half-brothers Seth and Norman on the farm under the less-than-watchful eye of her father Cole. But when housekeeper Heather Farley arrives, Rosie finds a mother - and a friend - to look after her. 
 
Several years later, Thomas Farley comes to find his sister. Rosie can only tell him that she disappeared in mysterious circumstances, abandoning her small son Alan. Determined to get young Alan and Rosie out of the clutches of Cole and his sons, Thomas helps unearth a terrible truth about the family. A truth that forces Rosie away from the farm and out into a cruel world where she must somehow come to terms with her shocking past. Is it possible that the man who brought ruin on her family might also bring happiness to Rosie?

Rosie

_______________________________ 
When nine-year-old orphan Georgia James is unexpectedly fostered by the kindly Celia and her bank manager husband she can hardly believe her luck. But then - on her fifteenth birthday - she suffers the cruellest betrayal of all at the hands of her foster father and is forced to run away, leaving everything she loves behind her. 
 
Penniless, sleeping rough, Georgia is soon introduced to the sleazy Soho world of brassy strippers, sweat shops, camaraderie and hardship. Fired by a fierce ambition, blessed with an extraordinary voice, her long struggle for fame and fortune begins. But even when she reaches the top she finds that the scars of the past can open up to ruin her... 
 
Steeped in atmosphere and raw emotion, Georgia is the story of a determination to succeed against all the odds and of a burning first love.

Georgia

When Ruby and Verity met as girls they came from different worlds. Verity was privately educated, living in a beautiful Hampstead home, while Ruby was being raised in extreme poverty. Nevertheless, they became firm friends. 
 
However, fortunes are not set in stone and soon the girls find their situations reversed. As Ruby goes up in the world, Verity encounters more and more tragedy, but still the girls remain a large part of each other's lives. That is, until one day in 1938 when Ruby says the terrible words 'You're dead to me' and it looks like their friendship might be over for good . . .

Dead to Me

Two young sisters sent far, far from home ... 
 
When tragedy deprives little Dulcie Taylor and her sister May of their parents, they are sent first to an orphanage and then shipped off to begin a new life in Australia. But the 'better life' the sisters are promised in this new and exciting country turns out to be a lie. 
 
It seems everyone who ever stood up for them, who ever said 'trust me', somehow betrays that trust: their parents, teachers and the sisters at the convent. But then Dulcie meets Ross, another orphanage survivor, and finds a kindred spirit. Can Dulcie ever get over the pain of the past and learn to trust again? And does she have the strength to fight for her own happiness as well as that of her sister?

Trust Me

When sixteen-year-old Charlie witnesses a brutal attack on her mother by two strangers she is terrified. And after talking to the police she realises that her father's business dealings can't as innocent as she always believed. 
 
With her father away it is left to Charlie to protect her mother. And somehow she must find out who wants to hurt her family - and why - without losing faith in her beloved parents. 
 
Can she unravel the mysteries of the past that haunt her family? Or will the truth wreck everything she loves?

Charlie

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?

Gypsy

Cheltenham, 1991 
 
When Eva Patterson returns home from work one day, a devastating scene awaits her. Her mother, Flora, lies dead in the bath. Beside her is a note saying only: 'Forgive Me'. 
 
Eva is shocked to find out that her mother was once a successful artist back in the 1960s. When she visits her mother's old studio, she finds a collection of Flora's paintings and diaries. Searching for answers, Eva encounters a psychic who mysteriously warns her to beware of a 'sleeping serpent', which she soon discovers refers to a shocking crime in Flora's past. 
 
Will discovering the truth destroy Eva's belief in everything she holds dear?

Forgive Me

One mother's hidden past. Her daughter's life changed forever . . .

1995, Scotland. The prison of Cornton Vale. 
 
 Laura Brannigan is in jail for murder. For two years she's been battling for justice - insisting that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. Then, with her spirits at their lowest ebb, she receives a letter . . . 
 
 Twenty years ago, having escaped an abusive past, Laura and Jackie made a promise to be sisters for ever. And Stuart had come into their lives - giving Laura a brilliant summer of love. 
 
But what went wrong? Why is Stuart writing to Laura now? And can he help free Laura from prison - and her past?

Faith

Camellia Norton is orphaned at fifteen when her mother's body is fished from a river in rural Sussex. And when she discovers a cache of letters amongst her mother's effects she realises that the past she has always been so sure of has been built on a tissue of lies. 
 
Devastated, she runs away to London, and loses herself in a metropolis that offers opportunity, temptation and danger, especially to a young girl hungry for love and acceptance. 
 
But her past won't stay buried forever, and eventually Camellia begins the long journey towards uncovering the truth about her background, and also, ultimately, about herself.

Camellia

Ellie is a sweet-natured brunette, generous of heart with a sparkling smile and an accent which reveals her East End background. 
 
Bonny is beautiful and spoilt, with cascades of blonde hair, the brightest pair of blue eyes and a mouth like Cupid's bow. 
 
The two girls meet in London at the end of the war when, seduced by two American airmen, they pool their wits and resources and set off to make a living on the stage. Set against the hardship and austerity of post-war Britain, and the glamour and ruthlessness of life in variety theatre, their story is one of sacrifice and burning ambition. But most of all of a powerful friendship that lasts against all odds.

Ellie

Susan Wright walked into a doctor's surgery and gunned down two members of staff in cold blood, then waited for the police to arrest her. Later that day a lawyer, Beth Powell, is assigned to defend her. Susan won't talk to anyone, even to Beth - until both women realise that twenty-nine years earlier they had been childhood friends. 
 
Talking about their troubled families and those happy summers they spent together as children rekindles Susan and Beth's friendship. And as the evidence against Susan mounts up, both women share their traumatic secrets about what sent them down such different paths in life. Their friendship grows stronger, but for one of them, there can be no happy ending ...

Till We Meet Again

The unputdownable novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Liar

When Fifi moves to London with her bricklayer boyfriend Dan, her mother is outraged. Despite initial feelings of horror at her new surroundings, Fifi finds the freedom from her middle-class family background exhilarating. 
 
Insatiably inquisitive, Fifi is fascinated by her new neighbours and wants to know what goes on behind all those shabby front doors. Why is Yvette, the French dressmaker, such a hermit? Why doesn't widower Frank join his daughter and grandchildren in Australia? And why doesn't the formidable and well-bred Miss Diamond move somewhere smarter? 
 
But most of all she is ghoulishly fascinated by the Muckles who live opposite in terrible squalor. She listens to their violent quarrels, watches their ill-treated and wretchedly unhappy children, and is appalled by all she sees. 
 
When Fifi tries to help the Muckles' youngest child, who has been physically abused by her father, Fifi unwittingly unleashes a chain of events which will not only bring heart ache to her and Dan, but terrible danger to all the inhabitants of Dale Street...

A Lesser Evil

Sussex, 2003 
 
When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there. But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician, Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright. The girls met working on a cruise ship and their friendship blossomed as they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister influence of an older American couple. To her regret, Dale hasn't seen Lotte since leaving the ship months earlier ... but the girl on the beach - although badly bruised - is indeed her much missed friend. 
 
Their reunion only marks the beginning of a dangerous tidal wave of secrets, lies and nightmares. Where has Lotte been? Who is the man who seems to want to kill her? And what has become of the baby she's recently given birth to? 
 
Dale and Lotte must dig deep and find the strength to hold on against the odds if they are to rebuild their friendship and survive Lotte's stolen - and deadly - past.

Showing results for: ‘Lesley Pearse’

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Series

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter