The House Across the Road by Lesley Pearse

Twenty-three year old Katy Speed is fascinated by the house across the street. The woman who lives there, Gloria, is the most glamorous neighbour on the avenue, owning a fashionable dress shop in Bexhill-on-Sea. But who is the woman who arrives in the black car most Saturdays while Gloria is at work? Sometimes she brings women to the house, other times they have children.

Hilda, Katy's mother, disapproves of Gloria. She wonders if these mysterious visitors have just been released from prison. Is Gloria secretly bringing criminals, or worse, into the heart of the community?

Then one night, the house burns down. In the wreckage, the bodies of Gloria and her daughter are found. Katy is sure the unexplained visitors must be responsible until her father is arrested and charged with murder. Have the police arrested the correct person? Are the rest of the street safe? Can Katy find the truth before it's too late?

Lesley Pearse has always delivered such incredibly realistic storylines with characters who feel so real and her new novel The House Across the Street is no exception.

When the house across the road from Katy Speeds family home is set alight she could never dream of the events that would occur afterwards when they learn that their neighbour who lived there died in the fire. Katy’s father Albert is arrested in relation to the fire and she is determined to do all she can to find the real culprit to be able to clear her fathers name but Katy uncovers a lifetime of desperation, sadness and courage which could all be in vain if the information she has gets into the wrong hands. What lengths will Katy go to, to protect her innocent father.

Once again we are introduced to such full bodied characters who feel so familiar and life like that we could be reading about our own neighbours. Katy in particular was such an ordinary and yet lovable and determined young lady who I was routing for from the start. Her mother was a very prickly character too even though we find out her reasons are quite justified in the end. There is a beautiful friendship between Katy and her friend Jilly, they obviously cared for each other deeply and almost form a sister like bond. There is also a whisper of romance weaved into what is a tender and troubled storyline so the hint of romance helped to soften the events.

The storyline does tackle a delicate and devastating subject matter which was written about with such care and attention to detail especially with regard to the way things were handled in the time period in which the storyline was set.

This was a great read, not up there with my favourites by this author but still a wonderful read that I couldn’t put down.

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