A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse

I've read a few of Lesley Pearce's books, and this is by far the best one of the lot. Set in the 1960's it features the goings on in a street in Kennington, London. The two main characters are Fifi Brown and Dan Reynolds, who meet by chance in a cafe in Bristol and end up getting married in a whirl wind romance much to the dis-taste of Fifi's mother. Wanting to give Fifi a good home, Dan moves them to London to find work and they move into a flat in Dale Street where all the neighbours know each other's business. Downstairs to them lives Nora Diamond, who later on the book reveals how she came ... more

Lesley Pearse takes us back to the 1960's, with a tale about two young people who fall in love (Fifi and Dan). There is tension in the family as they think that Dan is no good. The couple get married in secret and go to London where Dan can find work. They move into a street called Dale Street, which is a far cry from the world that Fifi is familiar with. Deciding to make the best of it, Fifi sets about trying to work out who her neighbours are, and spends many hours watching them from her top floor flat window. We meet Frank, a widower with a secret he's being blackmailed with; Nora, a woman ... more