Pearse’s command of characterisation,
scenic descriptions and easy-flowing believable dialogue makes her story
fascinating and riveting on a number of counts. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Lesley Pearse is acknowledged as a ten million copy Number One
bestselling author and reading her latest novel, The House Across the Street, it’s easy to understand why.
Her command of characterisation, scenic descriptions and easy-flowing believable
dialogue makes her story fascinating and riveting on a number of counts.
Set in the 1960s, the storyline deals with 23 year old Katy Speed who
lives in Bexhill, a seaside town situated in the county of East Sussex in South
East England. Opposite to where she lives with her parents, there is a house
which seems to have some very interesting goings-on.
A plainly dressed middle-aged
lady driving a Humber brings a constant stream of female visitors – some with
children. Many of them look as if they have been molested.
One night, the house across the street burns down. Arson is suspected
and Katy’s father is arrested on suspicion of murdering the owner, a glamorous
divorcee named Gloria Reynolds, and her daughter.
Katy refuses to believe this but she gets no support from her mother, a
difficult woman who spends her life complaining and criticising. Mrs Speed also
believes that her husband was having an affair with Gloria Reynolds.
Katy wishes to follow her brother Rob’s example and move away from home
so she makes plans to move to London with her friend Jilly. She goes to work in
a lawyer’s office and makes friends with a barrister in the firm. He vows to
help her clear her father’s name and find out what really happened.
However, things take a sinister turn and before long, Katy finds herself
in real trouble when she is attacked and imprisoned by Reynold’s real murderer.
Pearse skilfully handles the description of the young woman’s range of emotions
and the events that follow fast and furious after Katy manages to escape.
Pearse also highlights the issues facing women who are abused, weaving
these into the story and showing sympathy and understanding of their plight.
The House Across the Street is published by
Penguin Random House RRP. R290.00 ISBN
9780718189242 – Caroline Smart
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