Georgia... not just a place. (Georgia - Lesley Pearse)

Member Name: kaitlinsmummy

Product:	Georgia - Lesley Pearse
Date:	05/03/08 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thrilling storyline.

Disadvantages: None!

This is my first "adult", book review, so please be gently with your comments!!

The book I will try to review is Georgia by Lesley Pearse, the story begins like so -

It's February 1954 and the story begins in a south London orphanage run by nun's.
Georgia is the feisty nine year old at the centre of this story, due to era and the fact that she is half caste, Georgia was apparently abandoned as a baby and like so many other orphans has no sense of identity. After one of the many beatings that were regularly given out to the children, Georgia's path crosses with social worker Celia Anderson.
After falling in love with Georgia Celia fosters her immediately and for six years are blissfully happy along with Celia's husband and Georgia's foster father, Brian.

By the time it gets to Georgia's fifteenth birthday, she has bloomed and grew into a beautiful young lady, well cared for, loved by her foster parents and with a blossoming first love with a young man named Peter, that is until after her fifteenth birthday party, Georgia suffers the cruellest betrayal at the hands of her foster father, forcing her to run away leaving her foster mother and her true love, to pick up the pieces.

Georgia runs away to Soho and after a few very scary nights on the streets meets a disabled girl called Helen. They become roommate's and she is introduced to a world of strippers, prostitutes and salt of the earth characters that bring her out of her shell and become her new family.

After a few years and fired by a fierce ambition she becomes a singer, well known and wealthy , she has everything her heart could desire, until the skeletons that were well hidden in the back of her closet start to emerge, ( as they so often do with celebrities!), and turn her whole life around. She is forced to face the demons that she had so far avoided!!

This story is very addictive, one of those books that once opened has to be read from cover to cover. It is also very difficult to read in places, there is a far amount of brutality and death, so I spent half the time laughing out loud and half the time absolutely miserable and crying! (I became completely immersed in the story, so what ever emotions the author portrayed through the characters I felt deeply!).There was also a far amount of sex, which I feel adds to the story!! (I call these sort of books throbbers!!)

This book ,I was very lucky to purchase second hand from a book sale in my local library, it cost me the very delightful sum of 20 pence, but I would recommend buying this full price I enjoyed it that much.

The book can be purchased from - www.randomhouse.co.uk and the recommended retail price is £6.99.

Thanks for reading my review!

Summary: A wonderful read.