Charting the colourful history of the East End, this book relives all the major incidents amid then and now photographs. The Ratcliff Highway murders, the sinking of the Princess Alice, the Albion disaster, the Sidney Street siege, the Battle of Cable Street and the Bethnal Green tube shelter disaster are all featured. The philanthropists, suffragettes, Jack the Ripper and the Krays are other high profile characters included in this densely illustrated title.
"Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart." —Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award finalist Corey Halpern, a local high schooler, grew up working class in the Hamptons and is desperate to leave his home-town and start anew somewhere else. The summer before college, he finds escapism in sneaking into neighboring mansions and pocketing small items. One night just before Memorial Day weekend, he breaks into the wrong home at the wrong time: the Sheffield estate, where he and his mother, Gina, work. Under the cover of darkness, Leo Sheffield, patriarch and billionaire CEO, arrives unexpectedly with a companion. After a shocking poolside accident, Leo is desperate to cover up what happened before his family and friends arrive for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately for him, Corey saw everything, as did other eyes in the shadows. Secrecy, obsession and desperation dictate each character's path in this spectacular debut. With an ending as explosive as the Memorial Day fireworks on the island, The East End is an unforgettable debut about class, family secrets, and the desire to belong.
This book by a new photographer continues from 1980 as the regeneration of the East End accelerates to an unprecedented degree. Tim Brown, a driver on London Underground's Central Line, spent his spare time photographing the city's financial centre and transport hubs, including the Docklands area just before the developers seized control of this vast industrial wasteland. His subtle, understated (and never-before-seen) colour images are a nostalgic record of a corner of the capital that has changed almost beyond recognition.
One evening in the long hot summer of 1959, Alfred Gardner was walking home along Commercial Road. Noticing a woman who had collapsed, he ran to a phone box to call an ambulance only to be beaten to it by an older man. Chance encounters often spark friendships and this was to be the start of a camaraderie spanning thirty-seven years. They were an unlikely duo. Gardner, in his late teens, had never journeyed too far from Stepney. Upson, in his early thirties, had an extraordinary life already. For Gardner, the Second World War meant vague memories of returning from evacuation in Hartlepool in 1944 to a Stepney now under threat from Germany's V1 and V2 rockets. But two years earlier, Upson had faced even greater dangers when the Japanese Air Force bombed Rangoon. The fifteen-year-old, who took up smoking and drinking to appear older, joined Burma's tiny navy. Nearly twenty years later, as they wander the streets, pubs and clubs of the East End, a fascinating cast of characters emerges. There are exotics such as Red Boots Danny, the reforming East End cleric Father Joe Williamson. At the Waterman's Arms, they rub shoulders with celebrities, noticing Clint Eastwood enjoying a quiet drink at the bar. And Upson seems to know everyone. His friend watches amazed as men, women, old and young spring forward to shake his hand and greet him. Gardner, meanwhile, pushes himself into the background. With his photographic memory, he is the camera documenting their travels. After Upson's death in 1996, Gardner makes a sentimental journey through Wapping, the walk that the two friends often took. Starting at Tower Bridge, he strolls down St Katharine's Way and on to Shadwell Park. Much of Wapping has changed out of recognition, the old wharfs replaced by new apartments and penthouses. He stops by Old Aberdeen Wharf to view Rotherhithe opposite. Just as Upson had predicted, the ships are gone, just a few rusty barges clank together ...
From the author of the highly addictive and bestselling Blue Bloods series, with almost 3 million copies sold, comes a new novel, Melissa de la Cruz's first for adults, featuring a family of formidable and beguiling witches. The three Beauchamp women-Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid-live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret-they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there's Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache. For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it's time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them. With a brand-new cast of characters, a fascinating and fresh world to discover, and a few surprise appearances from some of the Blue Blood fan favorites, this is a page-turning, deliciously fun, magical summer read fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil. "A sexy, magical romp, sure to bring de la Cruz a legion of new fans." -- Kelley Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author of The Otherworld series
A new upstairs, downstairs Victorian murder mystery in the Kat Holloway series from the New York Times bestselling author of Death in Kew Gardens. When young cook Kat Holloway learns that the children of London's Foundling Hospital are mysteriously disappearing and one of their nurses has been murdered, she can't turn away. She enlists the help of her charming and enigmatic confidant Daniel McAdam, who has ties to Scotland Yard, and Errol Fielding, a disreputable man from Daniel’s troubled past, to bring the killer to justice. Their investigation takes them from the grandeur of Mayfair to the slums of the East End, during which Kat learns more about Daniel and his circumstances than she ever could have imagined.
Heart-warming tales of nursing and midwifery from the Sisters who worked with Jennifer Worth. ‘A second’s silence and then an almighty scream. It was the most moving thing I had ever seen ... A baby, a real live baby, another human life had entered the world. It didn’t seem possible and yet I had witnessed it with my very own eyes.’ Born into a happy working-class North London family in the mid-twentieth century, Katie is determined to ‘do something’ with her life. Working in the impoverished East End in the 1950s, she meets the Sisters of St John the Divine – a community of nuns dedicated to nursing and midwifery. The Sisters have been present at births, cared for the sick and laid out the dead of the East Enders for a hundred years, and Katie soon joins them to start her journey to becoming Sister Catherine Mary. As a nurse and midwife, Katie learns to deal with everything from strokes to breech births. Tragedy is never far away, but there are also moments of pure joy as lives are saved and the Poplar residents rally round. As a young novice Katie rallies against the vow of obedience, yet over the years learns much about the nature of dedication and love. Full of desperate hardship, humour and compassion, Katie’s story brings to life the unique world of these nursing Sisters in London’s East End. Sister Catherine Mary’s story was written by Helen Batten after in-depth interviews with today’s Sisters of the Community of St John the Divine. The Community of St John the Divine was founded in 1848 in a bid to make nursing a respectable profession. Early Sisters worked in the Crimea with Florence Nightingale and were instrumental in developing recognised training and qualifications for nurses and midwives. In the early 20th century they were working in areas such as Poplar and Deptford becoming a treasured part of the community. Today the Sisterhood is based in Birmingham and their website is www.csjd.org.uk. Helen Batten studied history at Cambridge and then journalism at Cardiff University. She went on to become a producer and director at the BBC and now works as a writer and a psychotherapist. She lives in West London with her three daughters.
______________________________ The huge word-of-mouth bestseller – completely updated for 2019 THE LONDON THAT TOURISTS DON’T SEE Look beyond Big Ben and past the skyscrapers of the Square Mile, and you will find another London. This is the land of long-forgotten tube stations, burnt-out mansions and gently decaying factories. Welcome to DERELICT LONDON: a realm whose secrets are all around us, visible to anyone who cares to look . . . Paul Talling – our best-loved investigator of London’s underbelly – has spent over fifteen years uncovering the stories of this hidden world. Now, he brings together 100 of his favourite abandoned places from across the capital: many of them more magnificent, more beautiful and more evocative than you can imagine. Covering everything from the overgrown stands of Leyton Stadium to the windswept alleys of the Aylesbury Estate, DERELICT LONDON reveals a side of the city you never knew existed. It will change the way you see London. ______________________________ PRAISE FOR THE DERELICT LONDON PROJECT ‘Fascinating images showing some of London’s eeriest derelict sites show another side to the busy, built-up capital.’ Daily Mail ‘Talling has managed to show another side to the capital, one of abandoned buildings that somehow retain a sense of beauty.’ Metro ‘Excellent . . . As much as it is an inadvertent vision of how London might look after a catastrophe, DERELICT LONDON is valuable as a document of the one going on right in front of us.’ New Statesman ‘From the iconic empty shell of Battersea Power Station to the buried ‘ghost’ stations of the London Underground, the city is peppered with decaying buildings. Paul Talling knows these places better than anyone in the capital.’ Daily Express ‘[London has an] unusual (and deplorable) number of abandoned buildings. Paul Talling’s surprise bestseller, DERELICT LONDON, is their shabby Pevsner.’ Daily Telegraph ______________________________