Deception: The Sunday Times Bestseller 2022

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After her mother's funeral, Alice Kent is approached by a man who insists he's her real father. Initially upset and disbelieving, Alice soon discovers that tugging at this loose thread unravels the expertly woven tapestry of lies which was her mother Sally's life. Personally, I found "Deception" to be thoroughly enjoyable. Lesley Pearse’s work is a definite recommendation if you have an affinity for crime and mystery genres. She had accepted Sally's many faults, and her reluctance to ever speak of the past. But faced with this staggering deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother.

Thank you to @michaeljbooks and Lesley Pearse for this advanced copy of Deception in return for an honest review. Lesley Pearse was told as a child that she had too much imagination for her own good. When she grew up she worked her way through a number of jobs, including nanny, bunny girl, dressmaker and full-time mother before, at the age of forty-nine, settling upon a career that would allow her gifts to blossom: she became a published writer. Lesley now lives just outside Bristol. She has three daughters and two grandchildren. 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.

Faced with this staggering deception, Alice decides she must learn the whole, terrible truth about her mother. Eve should never have married Don Hathaway. Yes, he gave her two beautiful children - Olly and Tabitha - but he is a bully. Worse than that, he hurts her. After the funeral of her mother, Sally, Alice Kent is approached by a man named Angus Tweedy. He claims to be her father and tells her that he served time in prison for marrying Sally bigamously.

A twisting, turning and utterly addictive tale of mystery, hardship and self-survival * Lancashire Evening Post * Written with Pearse's typically engaging and effortless style of storytelling, Deception is an intriguing book of highs, lows, struggles and perseverance * Culturefly * It is there that she meets Etienne, a mysterious man who she first met when she was a child. Belle knows that she still loves her husband but never expected to meet the man who played such an important role in her youth here in Europe. As she continues to talk to him, the young woman and former courtesan finds herself torn when it comes to matters of the heart.

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The Promise is set in 1914 in London and reunites the reader with Belle Reilly in this sequel to Belle. Belle has finally found happiness and a life she has always wanted thanks to her husband Jimmy. Now she has achieved another dream that she has always wanted to follow; owning and running a hat shop. But when the first world war starts to slowly arrive like a ship on the horizon, Belle’s crazy life is about to change in ways that she never even saw coming.This story is cleverly written from Alice’s perspective and as Alice is on her journey of discovery, it switches to that of her mum. There are no massive twists, just a really well thought out plot which is both interesting and compelling. But she finds out about that and death too when one of the girls is murdered and she is witness to it. Belle is taken from her home and sold into prostitution in Paris by the killer. Now her entire world is not her own and when she is to go to New Orleans halfway across the planet, she is going to blossom from a young girl into a young woman that is more in control of her fate than ever. Lesley Pearse was brought up in South London in various orphanages from the age of three. She learned about the Soho club scene and the music business during the Sixties with the late John Pritchard. Her novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Lesley has three daughters and three grandchildren and lives in Bristol.