This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Gilda does it again! She takes you on a journey from East London's Poplar to the delightful fields of Kent. Hop picking no less! This story is about the Fairleigh family and in particular Rose who is the Matriarch of the family and Jess her very sweet natured daughter.

They live in a very close knit community in Burton Street and everyone knows everyone else's business. The characters in this book are so true and the way Gilda describes them is spot on. She takes you on the journey with them and you feel like you are there experiencing it all with them.

War hits them all very hard and the Fairleigh family are no exception as well as the landowners in Kent where they do their hop picking.

This is Gilda at her best. Another spellbinding novel about past times in the East End of London. Very very enjoyable.

Rose was delivered a letter from the postman Jack. Appearance was important to Rose.. She didn’t have much but she liked to keep herself respectable. Jess was Rose’s daughter and Jack was in love with her and Jessie also cared for him. Jack couldn’t seem to be himself around Jess he couldn’t seem to talk to her like a man but got all tongue tied or just stayed quiet, Jess believed she couldn’t find a way to talk to guys. Jess was one of the new East End girls that that had the opportunity and took it to get a decent education. Jess’s father had been in the merchant navy since before Jess was born. When he was on a trip Jess sleep with her mom in the bed instead of sleeping in the parlor. Jess was going to stay home instead of going to her weekly social dance to save money to go to pay a deposit on the key when the go to Kent to go hop picking. Rose is worried that going away will not be good for the slow moving romance between Jess and Jack. But this gives Rose and her family an escape from East London.
I could get into this story maybe it was reading the type of English language being used in this story just got to me.It made it hard to enjoy. I am sure there are many who will enjoy this story.

Rose Fairleigh and her pretty daughter Jess are packing up to leave Burton street in Poplar for hop picking in Kent. Rose’s anticipation of the coming weeks is marred by worries that their departure will interrupt the slow-blossoming romance between Jess and the gentle postman Jack Barnes that her three unruly teenage boys Sammy, Charlie & Ted will take advantage of her absence and get up to all kinds of trouble.

Jack, whom Rose has brought up almost as her own, promises to visit the Fairleigh women as soon as he can and assures Rose he will keep an eye on her sons. Reassured, Rose and Jess, and their neighbours, leave for Kent. Despite tension between the Kent locals and the Cockney visitors, the hop-picking proceeds as always.

However back in London, ignoring Rose and Jack’s warnings, Charlie, has been visiting Limehouse’s Chinatown, full of pimps, opium dens, and illegal gambling. He’s also taken part in some bare knuckle fights & found employment as a henchman to the shadowy Mr Chen. Jack realises that, duty bound by his promise to Rose, he must brave Chinatown’s dangerous and unfamiliar streets to find Charlie, where tragedy strikes & Charlie leaves for a new life in Chicago.

Meanwhile in Kent, full of promises, arrogance & charm, Robert Worlington, the landowner’s son turns his attentions towards Jess. Rose & Jess return to Poplar to a rapidly changing world. War breaks out & everyone’s life is affected.
A lovely well written book that really tugs at the emotions. Set against the years before, through & just after the First World War it tells The Fairleigh’s story & paints a vivid picture of life in the East End of London. The characters are very well rounded, the pace of the story is slow at times but mainly due to the author’s ability to paint an in depth view of life in the slums. A moving book that I’d recommend