A perceptive and telling story set in the London of Christine Keeler
It is London in the 1950s and early 60s. The gambling clubs, private dining rooms, corrupt politicians and gangsters who run Mayfair as well as the East End had never had it so good . . .
Iris wasn't quite a call girl . . . she never took any money for that. But she didn't mind accepting a white fiver for the cab fare back to the dismal family flat, or little gifts, or champagne in heady and glamorous restaurants. She was living very dangerously, trading in ignorance and beauty - though not without a certain street savvy.
But then she was plunged, with repugnant violence, into a world of seedy manipulation existing beneath the surface of London society. And innocence and ignorance suddenly become outdated luxuries . . .
Acute social observation combines with a tender story of love and innocence in Jean Marsh's powerful novel.
'A delightful London-in-the-Fifties novel' Tim Rice, Daily Telegraph A Londoner by birth, Jean Marsh has spent most of her adult life in Oxfordshire and New York. She is best known for her Emmy-winning role as Rose Buck in Upstairs, Downstairs, which she co-created with Eileen Atkins, and in which she reappeared in the BBC's 2010 three-part remake of the series. She has acted in a wide variety of shows on stage, in film and television. Her performances have included works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Ibsen and Coward.
Articles by Jean Marsh have appeared in the Sunday Times, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and the TV Times.
