Deception: The Sunday Times Bestseller 2022

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Eve, when we first meet her, was timid and shy but through no fault of her own as Don’s actions made her feel worthless, powerless and useless. She is naturally reserved having being brought up not to tell tales but finally she garners enough courage to go to the police and report what has been happening to her. She knows she needs to get away from Don, for her children not to grow up in a home where domestic violence is common place. Eve is to be admired for having the strength to do the right thing and soon herself and the children are placed in a women's refuge run by Marianne. Eve decides to permanently move her family to Sidmouth, to finally start over and to work on the interior decorating career she has always wanted. But secrets have a way of following you and Eve soon learns that even in a quaint little fisherman's town like Sidmouth, there are still monsters lurking around every corner. And sometimes those monsters are the people you trust the most.

The main character, Eve, is well played and her teenage children are very involved in all that happens to her but then towards the end her daughter does something that for me was totally out of character and changed the whole direction of the book, I just couldn’t buy into her reaction and stance at all Set in the year I was born, I was very interested in the music, fashion and ambience of that era. I particularly liked the mention of the women’s fashion, from the miniskirts to the kinky boots and the talk about hippies and flower power. Without doubt the author has passionately researched the era well and I felt I was living in the 1970’s as the events unfolded. Marianne goes on to be a role model/mother figure for Eve always offering good advice and being there for her when she needs it. Spending weeks in the refuge means Eve starts to change and for the better. Gone is the scared women who was afraid of change, meeting new people or even trying to do things for herself as in indulging her passion of curtain making and interior design. When they divorce comes through Eve feels confident enough that she can return to the family home and start afresh but the threat of Don still lingers on. This is based in the 1970’s in West London. A time of power cuts and dustbin men going on strike. Amelias past family life was awful. A Father who drank aplenty and liked using his fists. A mother quite partial to the bottle too. Who neglected her children and had to fend for themselves.

The story is based in 1970’s London. Amelia White had a tough upbringing. Her mother is an alcoholic and very cold towards her and her siblings and her father was always using his fists to get out of anything including towards her. As soon as he could she left home. She manages to get a job at the local newspaper selling advertising space. But her dream is become a reporter a novelist. This new book from popular author Lesley Pearse has all the right ingredients. Eve’s husband Don drinks, and he's violent to her. She says to herself she never should have married him. But they have a girl Tabitha (Tabby), and a boy called Oliver, the children are a joy. Don says he’ll turn over a new leaf, but he'll never change. At one point things become better…. then go bad again so that she starts to think, could she get away? But then here’s the contrasting thing…the book highlighted some really difficult subjects including marital abuse, grooming and suicide, to name but a few, and didn’t shy away from them, in fact it is a brutal start to the book….which then made the other parts seem so contrasted Amelia is horrified to find the body of a young woman; murdered and left out with the rubbish, just around the corner from her home. Her horror grows as the newspapers sensationalise the murder; spreading false stories about the victim and the life she led. With Lesley Pearse's reputation for grippy, gritting stories that never shy away from the seamier side of life, I was expecting distressing themes from Betrayal. And, yes, this story pulled no punches – literally – from the very start.

Bestselling author Lesley Pearse weaves her writing web of magnetism and lures you in with a tale of hard times, abuse and survival.

Hallsands, Devon, 1917

Pearse enjoys introducing her readers to characters that they will connect with and care about. While other books in the genre she writes in rely on formulas to get from the beginning to the end, she doesn’t use any formula to write her novels. The genres that they are set in also vary from genres that aren’t totally defined, from crime to historical adventure or engaging books like Trust Me, which was based on the real events of child migrants from England that were being sent over to Australia after the war. Turns out that one of the flings is grooming/ sleeping with her daughter, so she catches him and calls the cops. Though the themes in this story are upsetting, they are offset by the strength of the characters. Eve is never less than a sympathetic character. The bleakness of her life with Don and her subsequent struggles are lightened not only by her own courage and determination, but by the strength of the other characters in the book, who are a testament to the fundamental good heartedness of most people. Eve is seen by, and supported by women-the act of biology in being born a woman leaves you open to abuse and betrayal in a way that men cannot understand the vulnerability that we live with on a daily basis. In the same way that you cannot equivocate male/female domestic violence with male/male or female/male, each case needs to be recognised and supported with absolute trust. One of the worst things that those who have been abused have to face is the , what I call, 'was it really that bad?' narrative, or the 'I wouldn't let that happen to me!' reaction which shuts down honest conversation and applies a passive aggressive guilt to the victim, regardless of sex. Her life is as interesting as the fiction that she writes, and perhaps even stranger. Lesley Pearse has had a very dramatic and eventful life. Her mother died when she was just three years old under circumstances that were tragic. Their father had been at work at sea and a neighbor spied Lesley and her brother outside without coats and that led to finding out that their mother had died.

Liar by Lesley Pearse is a satisfying read that will be sure to strike a chord with fans of the bestselling author and it may earn the British writer some new readers. I really liked this. I liked it much better than ‘Suspects’, and ‘Deception’, the last 2 books from Lesley Pearse. This is more like her earlier novels e.g. ‘Rosie’, and ‘Father Unknown’, which I loved. I really enjoyed it, and was eager to read on to find out what would happen. Eve Hathaway's husband Don is the worst kind of bully. For years she's put up with his beating and berating towards herself and their children Tabby and Ollie. Finally, FINALLY after one too many instances of the abuse, Eve finds the courage to walk away. Belle is set in London in 1910 and is the debut novel in the Belle series by Lesley Pearse. Belle is 15 years old at the time of this novel. As a young girl, she has lived in the Seven Dials in a brothel for all of her life and for most of it had no idea what was really going on in the name of commerce upstairs.

Publication Order of Ellie Books

Also the writing style is written in a way my 15 year old self wrote fan fictions. Just so simple and boring. Written with Pearse's typically engaging and effortless style of storytelling, Deception is an intriguing book of highs, lows, struggles and perseverance' CULTUREFLY Liar by Lesley Pearse is a historical drama, laced with a plenty of intrigue, romance, mystery and a touch of crime. Featuring a high driven lead on a quest to uncover the truth behind a series of murders, Liar is a consuming tale from bestselling British author Lesley Pearse. I felt so sorry for Eve and her children but I loved how her character evolved as the story progressed and she started to get more confident in building a new life for herself. She found some really good friends and began to hope that she might even find love again. I really enjoyed the fact that she went from downtrodden to ambitious and I admired her for what she achieved.

Eve is a battered wife who lives in constant fear of her violent husband Don. She eventually finds the courage to leave him, taking their two children, Olly and Tabitha, with her. In due course she gains the legal right to return to the marital home with her kids. Don now lives elsewhere with his new girlfriend. However, Eve hasn't seen the last of him. He keeps retuning to his garden shed in the dead of night to sleep off a drunken stupor. Eve finally snaps and makes a terrible decision that has repercussions for everyone.

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

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. 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. It’s 1970 and Amelia White lives alone in a small bedsit in Shepherd’s Bush, London. This tiny room has become her oasis, after escaping from her violent father and downtrodden mother. This book touched and covered so many tough subjects, that are relevant and happening in today's times! She is married now to her sweet husband. His name is Jimmy and he supports her as she supports them both on the hat shop she finally opened– her dream for so long, ever since she was young. But they can’t see what’s coming as the first world war gathers on the horizon and it is certain that a storm is coming. Belle’s life is so crazy but it’s about to change more than she ever knew possible– is she ready for it?