Fallen Angels [Hardcover]

A heartwarming story of courage and unexpected surprises. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

After her dastardly husband Billy tries to sell her at a wife sale, Lily Fowler finds herself alone, frightened and heavily pregnant on the streets of Hull. Her brave attempts to find work are futile and when she is turned away from the workhouse and other such establishments for women in her "condition", Lily is forced to swallow her last iota of respectability and work in a brothel in Leadenhall Square. Unexpectedly things begin to look up. Lily sees potential where others can only see destitution and ruin and soon forges strong relationships with the other women there. They are all good-hearted women who have fallen on hard times and together Lily and her "fallen angels" outwit the low-life brothel-keeper and work to turn the house in Leadenhall Square into something altogether more respectable. And before any of them know it, doors swing open, lost loves are recovered and the happy endings none of them dared to dream of begin to materialise ...

Lily Fowler is alone, frightened and heavily pregnant on the streets of Hull, after her dastardly husband's attempt to sell her in a wife sale.
Cast aside and shunned by society, Lily struggles to find a respectable job but her search is futile and she is forced to work in a brothel.There, she finds unexpected solace in the company of the other women workers, women who are not so different from Lily herself, and together they strive to leave these miserable times behind.
Untied by bonds far stronger than normal friendship, these fallen angels bid farewell to the slums and, to their very great surprise, doors swing open, lost loves are recovered and the happy endings that none of them dared to dream of begin to materialise.

Valerie Wood was born in Yorkshire and now lives in a village near the east coast. She is the author of The Hungry Tide, winner of the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction, Annie, Children of the Tide, The Romany Girl, Emily, Going Home, Rosa's Island, The Doorstep Girls, Far From Home, The Kitchen Maid, The Songbird, and Nobody's Child, all available in Corgi paperback. Find out more about Valerie Wood's novels by visiting her website on www.valeriewood.co.uk