From the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Wartime Christmas! Previously published with the title of Bella of Bow Street, this inspirational tour de force set in the 1940’s - 60’s brings London’s East End alive and will have you on the edge of your seat as you read Bella’s brave story. For street urchins eight-year-old Bella Doyle and her five-year-old brother Terry, Christmas is something they can only dream of... moreFrom the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Wartime Christmas! Previously published with the title of Bella of Bow Street, this inspirational tour de force set in the 1940’s - 60’s brings London’s East End alive and will have you on the edge of your seat as you read Bella’s brave story. For street urchins eight-year-old Bella Doyle and her five-year-old brother Terry, Christmas is something they can only dream of. It’s December 1940 and the London Blitz has provided them with one essential; scraps of food they scavenge on the debris of bombed buildings. There’s no love and little for them to eat in the derelict dockside slum they once called home. This is a danger area and to Bella almost worse than the Luftwaffe’s nightly raids. Their mother is a drunkard and earns her meagre living on the streets, turning a blind eye to the abuse her boyfriend dolls out to her two unwanted and neglected children. It’s left to Bella to protect Terry, who has endured so many beatings he is mentally scarred. Bella has learned at a young age that life doesn’t play fair. Her hero is Micky Bryant, a good-looking, streetwise teenager, and the one person she truly trusts. And it’s to Micky that Bella turns in her desperation. But is Micky the kind benefactor Bella believes him to be and will her decision have serious consequences in the years ahead? less
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