I loathed Sally at the start of Deception, but as she transmogrified into her different personas and Alice found out more about her, I felt I had come to know a real woman. Her life choices may have been forced upon her, unwisely chosen or even criminal, but what Lesley Pearse does so well is to show the reader why Sally behaved as she did so that there’s a reality to her actions and an understanding In the reader.

Lesley is international writing royalty, with her thirtieth novel about to fly into the world she has always been a firm favourite in our home. What I liked most about this authors writing was her ability to create characters that were complicated and messy but very relatable and likeable. It wasn’t the kind of story where I was wish wishing for a happy ending for everyone, I felt like I was wishing for contentment and closure. Which I suppose is arguably a happy ending. Pearse enjoys introducing her readers to characters that they will connect with and care about. While other books in the genre she writes in rely on formulas to get from the beginning to the end, she doesn’t use any formula to write her novels. The genres that they are set in also vary from genres that aren’t totally defined, from crime to historical adventure or engaging books like Trust Me, which was based on the real events of child migrants from England that were being sent over to Australia after the war. Written with Pearse's typically engaging and effortless style of storytelling, Deception is an intriguing book of highs, lows, struggles and perseverance' CULTUREFLY Her life is as interesting as the fiction that she writes, and perhaps even stranger. Lesley Pearse has had a very dramatic and eventful life. Her mother died when she was just three years old under circumstances that were tragic. Their father had been at work at sea and a neighbor spied Lesley and her brother outside without coats and that led to finding out that their mother had died.

Belle is the first novel in the Belle series. It is 1910 in London, and a young girl has grown up in a brothel all her life without ever knowing it. Now that she is 15 years old, she has suddenly discovered that all is not as it seems in the Seven Dials. Even though she grew up there, Belle’s life is forever changed and her innocence gone forever when she sees one of the girls that lives there brutally murdered. Alice always knew that her mother had faults and kept secrets but learning this information sets her off on a path to find out more about her life before Ralph. She wants to uncover the whole truth; the good and the bad. Raunchier than I’m used to from Lesley Pearse, Deception conveys the eras, particularly of Fleur’s experience, to perfection. Touches of realism such as the musical Hair add a sense of authenticity and the sexist, male dominated world feels so convincing.

This book brilliantly builds intrigue as Alice uncovers her mum's life of deception, lies and love * Woman & Home * This is a dual-timeline story which opens with Alice on her way to her mother's funeral. When a man approaches her and says he's her real father, Alice is horrified but as she starts to uncover Sally's secrets she realises that there was so much that she didn't know. Interspersed with Alice's story in 2015 is that of her mother from childhood onwards. Both threads are absolutely engrossing. I particularly enjoyed how Alice discovered details from her mother's life that she would never have known had she not met that stranger at the funeral. Pearse weaves the two stories together seamlessly and to brilliant effect. She already knows her mother was manipulative at times, vain, very secretive and never spoke of the past.Then her husband enlists in the Army and is sent to the battlefields. Belle starts to realize slowly that her entire life is on the verge of falling apart. But she is resilient and will not stand by and watch it happen. Belle volunteers to help treat the wounded and ends up working abroad as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross In France. A twisting, turning and utterly addictive tale of mystery, hardship and self-survival * Lancashire Evening Post *