Deception: The Sunday Times Bestseller 2022

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I have read a number of her books a few years ago and I saw this new one and thought I would buy it. I liked her as an author. This book felt like it was written by someone else. A bit disjointed and so boring! After the funeral of her mother, Sally, Alice Kent is approached by a man named Angus who claims to be her father and served time in prison for marrying Sally bigamously. She had accepted Sally's many faults, and reluctance to never speak of the past. But faced with this deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother. 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. But, after one drunken rage too many, she has the courage to leave him. Eve is warned that it's a difficult path, yet she needs to give her children hope for the future.

Lesley Pearse (born 24 February 1945) [1] is a British novelist, with global sales of over 10 million copies. [2] [3] She started writing at the age of 35, but was not published until she was 48. [4] Sally was very much a closed book but with her new found surprising information Alice is very much determined to open it up. Alice starts to dig into her mother’s past and she throws up some surprising facts that she perhaps wished she had left buried but at the same time a clearer picture of her heritage starts to form for her and along the way she does find some romance. The majority of the book centres around Sally and her deception of which there were many. It begs the question what happens when the person closest to you has led a life of lies and secrets and deceived so many?

Pearse’s Belle Series debuted in 2011 with the publication of Belle. It was followed by The Promise, where main character Belle is desperate to do anything to make her life better. The third book in the series came out in 2014 and is titled Survivor. Deception has a seemingly simple plot as Alice tries to find out about her mother’s past, but told through Alice’s modern 2015 perspective interspersed by her mother’s decades of life, there’s a gradual uncovering that draws in the reader and makes them experience the truth in the same way as Alice uncovers it in a very satisfying narrative. 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. Alice's journey into her mother's past is one of incredulity as she discovers a woman shaped by a truly traumatic childhood... A true highlight for me was Sally, a very intriguing character, leading a very colourful life, I could have easily read a whole book on just her and what happened.

Alice talks to Angus and discovers that her mother is not the woman that she thought she was and that her life was all a lie. Because of this she decides to find out the truth about her mother, visiting places of her mother’s past and her old friends to discover the truth. A twisting, turning and utterly addictive tale of mystery, hardship and self-survival * Lancashire Evening Post *Raunchier than I’m used to from Lesley Pearse, Deception conveys the eras, particularly of Fleur’s experience, to perfection. Touches of realism such as the musical Hair add a sense of authenticity and the sexist, male dominated world feels so convincing. Alice always knew that her mother had faults and kept secrets but learning this information sets her off on a path to find out more about her life before Ralph. She wants to uncover the whole truth; the good and the bad.

After the funeral of her mother, Sally, Alice Kent is approached by a man claiming to be her father. 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. An interesting story told across time and generations. The conflict between what is known to be true and what Alice comes to discover is the gripping aspect of the story. I really enjoy a novel that makes me wonder what I would do in the same circumstances- and this is one of those books. Part historical, part contemporary; the writing is wonderful. She had accepted Sally's many faults, and her reluctance to never speak of the past. But faced with this staggering deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother. Her first novel was published in 1993 and is called Georgia. It was followed by the novels Tara, Charity, Ellie, and several more. She has also been published in the Great Escapes Collection.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. For me, Sally's tale was one of harshness, harrow and sorrow. There's little wonder why Sally continually reinvented herself to chase away those unbearable situations she found herself trapped in time and time again. It also becomes quite clear why she also chose to remain a closed book with her children and second husband. I actually preferred Sally's encounters to Alice's, whose were a bit too brief for my liking. 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. Written with Pearse's typically engaging and effortless style of storytelling, Deception is an intriguing book of highs, lows, struggles and perseverance' CULTUREFLY A gritty, gripping drama . . . A raw, truthful and moving account, building intrigue as Alice gradually uncovers her mother's life of deception, lies - and love * Woman's Weekly *