The Four Streets: Volume 1

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Stories are going on around the streets where she lived, but the heartache rests with her. Her next-door neighbours are good people. Maura always made sure that the boys had something to eat, but when good fortune fell on Maura, and her husband Tommy, they took the chance to move to Ireland, and the promise of a good life for their family. In the books’ defence the author depicts life of the struggling working classes in the 1950’s very well and a number of emotive issues are covered. I will not go into further details fearing I may spoil the reading experience. The first problem is the time frame, it's not clear how long of a time period this book is supposed to cover. There is a 2 year time period from the point where we are introduced to Alice's character and when her role in the story really starts. But then that's followed by a mention of the child being in nappies to jumping to mentions of school. There is no clear indication of the differences in ages between Kitty and Nellie, but it's mentioned near the end that Kitty is 14 and they appear to both be caring for the other kids. There are no mentions of any big events like birthdays or Christmas to help explain.

This author certainly knows how to bring an era to life with the harsh conditions, little money and a community that looks after its own. Times were very different for the women in Liverpool. Women had few rights, often big families, and only the money that their husbands gave them. Of course, some men were good to their families, but the ones that weren't, caused terrible hardships. If they didn’t work, they didn’t get paid. Peggy Nolan was run into the ground trying to look after her seven sons and lazy good-for-nothing husband.When I chose this book to read I was oblivious to the fact it is written by Nadine Dorries, an MP known for taking part in some reality show I never watch, which was just as well as I was not influenced by the authors previous fame and did genuinely find the book engaging. The setting was well described and the hardships palpable. Dorries creates characters you learn to love and hate. The tragedy, laughter, spirit of community and religion are well depicted throughout the novel. Dorries was signed up as an author in 2013 in a six-figure deal, shortly before she was forced to apologise to MPs for failing to declare her fee for appearing on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! She has since written the Four Streets series, set in a “tight-knit Irish Catholic community” in 1950s Liverpool where the villain is an abusive Catholic priest; the Lovely Lane series, in which “five very different girls are arriving at the nurses’ home in Lovely Lane, Liverpool, to start their training” in 1950s Liverpool; and the Tarabeg series, which moves between a small village on the west coast of Ireland, and Liverpool.

Dorries, who controversially appeared as a contestant on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, has said that she manages to fit in writing with her job as an MP because "my youngest child left home for university and I was left with an empty nest. I replaced ironing, shopping, cleaning and chauffeuring, with writing." The dreadful secret being kept by one of the girls in this story is that she is being sexually abused by her parish priest. While I know sexual exploitation by one's spiritual leaders did and still does occur, I can read all about in my own local newspaper. I don't want my leisure-time reading to be filled with that type of storyline, and I certainly don't want the description of said abuse to be graphic and prolonged, as it was in The Four Streets.This type of book is usually my genre of choice – I am a child of the 1950’s and raised in a Roman Catholic household. Peggy is in deep trouble. Maura and Tommy have gone to live in Ireland. Kathleen travels between the house in Liverpool and her family farm in Ireland, doing her best to keep her family well cared for and safe. But there is deceiving going on. Someone has said that there is a rumour that the Four Streets are to be torn down in a slum clearance scheme, but the families that live there, who are more like one big family, are naturally against the idea. They just want to live in peace and feed their families. I have read this entire series of The Four Streets, and I have to say that the author outdid herself on this last book. The story comes to a wonderful ending with a perfect conclusion. What a story. Clogs and shawls queen … the new secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA It is a brilliant storyline, and although this is the fourth book about this community, it was my first, and I loved it.