OUR WRITERS MEAN BUSINESS 
London 1910. Fifteen year-old Belle has lived in a brothel in Seven Dials all her life, with no understanding of what happens in the rooms upstairs. But her innocence is shattered when she witnesses the murder of one of the girls and, subsequently snatched from the streets by the killer, she is sold into prostitution in Paris.
No longer mistress of her own fate, Belle is blown across the globe to sensuous New Orleans where she comes of age and learns to enjoy life as a courtesan. Yet thoughts of home - and the knowledge her status as golden girl cannot last - compel her to break out of her gilded cage.
But Belle finds escaping tougher than she imagined, for her life is threatened by desperate men who crave her beauty and attention. Armed only with resourcefulness and spirit, she has a long and dangerous journey ahead of her. Will courage be enough to sustain her? Can she make it back to her family and friends and find her chance at true happiness?
Number One bestseller Lesley Pearse has created in Belle a heroine for our times: a strong woman who stands up for right in a world turned bad.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Brazil (Portuguese) | Novo Conceito |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Italy | Mondadori |
| Latvia | Zvaigzne ABC Publishers |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
| Sweden | Damm |
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Sussex,
2003. When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she
has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there. But an
article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician
Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright.
The girls met working on a cruise ship and their friendship blossomed as
they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister
influence of an older American couple. To her regret, Dale hasn’t
seen Lotte since leaving the ship months earlier... but the girl on the
beach – although badly bruised – is indeed her much missed friend.
Their reunion only marks the beginning of a dangerous tidal wave of secrets,
lies and nightmares. Where has Lotte been? Who is the man who seems to want
to kill her? And what has become of the baby she’s recently given
birth to? Dale and Lotte must dig deep and find the strength to hold on
against the odds if they are to rebuild their friendship and survive Lotte’s
stolen – and deadly – past...
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Brazil (Portuguese) | Novo Conceito |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Greece | Minoas |
| Israel | Ivrit |
| Norway | Cappelen Damm |
| Sweden | Forma |
***THE
NEW SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***
When teenagers Beth and Sam Bolton are orphaned, their baby sister is taken
into a new home, so they decide to set sail for a new life too... in America.
On board the steamer to New York, Beth and Sam meet charismatic gambler
Theo, and quick-witted Londoner Jack, and the four band together to seek
their fortunes.
Beth has always dreamed of playing her fiddle to large audiences... and
finds herself doing so in the saloons, where she is a huge success and lovingly
nicknamed Gypsy by her fans. But the foursome fall foul of local gangsters
and flee to Canada…
As word gets out that gold has been found in the Klondike, they embark on
a dangerous and epic journey to reach the Yukon valley, trailing across
snowy mountains and treacherous rapids. Who will break first? Theo, the
handsome-yet-greedy bounder? Dreamy Sam, so easily influenced by money?
Practical Jack, a man devoted to his friends? Or Beth, the woman with the
gypsy in her soul, who cares more for music than gold?
“No formula is at work here: this is storytelling at its very best.”Daily Mail
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Greece | Minoas |
| Hungary | Ulpius-Haz |
| Poland | Red Horse |
| Portugal | ASA |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
| Sweden | Forma |
| Turkey | Epsilon Bljasak |
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It
is 1995, Scotland. The prison of Cornton Vale. Laura Brannigan is in jail
for a murder she claims she didn't commit.
For two years she's been battling for justice - insisting the police made
a terrible mistake; pleading that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie.
With her spirits at their lowest ebb, she's resigned to her miserable fate
- until, out of the blue, a letter is delivered to the prison. At the sight
of the letter's handwriting, Laura's heart lurches - taking her back to
a different, happier time and memory of an old love... 1972 was the year
Laura met Stuart and experienced her first summer of love.It was a heady
time as she'd only recently been able to stop running. For Laura had always
been a survivor: leaving an abusive home at fifteen and then life on her
own - until she met Jackie. She and Jackie became best friends, swore they'd
be sisters for ever.
So what went wrong in the intervening years? And why is Stuart writing to
Laura now? Does he have faith in her innocence? And can he help free Laura
from prison - and her past?
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| German | Luebbe |
| German Book Club | Der Club |
| Hungary | Pecsi Direct |
| Italy | Mondadori |
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***A
SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER***
**LONGLISTED FOR THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2007**
Somerset, 1836, and baby Hope is cast out from a world of privilege as living
proof of her mother's adultery. Smuggled away from the Harveys and Briargate
House to a nearby village.
Hope grows up in the arms of the warm and loving Renton family, unaware
of her true identity.
But fate has harsh plans for Hope and a chain of events sees her forced
to lead a vagabond's existence until she finds the courage to fight back
and prove herself a fearless and able nurse, a vocation that takes her to
the horrific battlefields of the Crimea.
But the secrets of the past are not yet done with Hope Renton and she must
return to England to face the legacy of her birth.
With the storytelling magic that has won Lesley Pearse millions of fans,
Hope is the portrait of a remarkable woman who
will never let the world - or injustice - bring her down. .
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| France | Editions Belfond |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Hungary | Pecsi Direct |
| Polish | Vizja Press |
| Sweden | Damm |
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***THE
NEW SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BESTSELLER***
LONGLISTED FOR THE ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2005
When Fifi declares to her mother that she has secretly married Dan Reynolds,
a handsome but itinerant bricklayer, her mother is incensed. Despite her
mother's disapproval, Fifi heads to London with her new husband to set up
home in Kennington.
Their flat may be small and the area deprived, but she finds the freedom
of her new life exhilarating. Insatiably inquisitive, Fifi is fascinated
by her eclectic mix of neighbours. She can't wait to discover what they
are really like, particularly the Muckle family...
The Muckles live in terrible squalor. Fifi can't help but listen to their
violent quarrels, watch the endless people coming and going, or the stories
and legends about this ruthless family…
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Italy | Mondadori |
| Polish | Vizja Press |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
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THE
COMPELLING NEW BESTSELLER FROM ONE OF THE UK’S BEST LOVED WRITERS
FOR WOMEN
The story of one girl’s struggle against cruelty and her quest
for love.
Adele Talbot is twelve when her younger sister is killed in a road accident
in London’s Kings Cross and her mother, Rose – so devastated
by the loss – begins to abuse her.
Adele is sent to a children’s home in Tunbridge Wells but soon runs
away to trace her grandmother Honour whom she has discovered lives in Sussex.
But Honour is a bitter, eccentric woman who is not best pleased to see her
granddaughter. But eventually the two forge some sort of bond and Honour
allows Adele to stay. When Adele meets Michael Bailey on the marshes two
years later and real love and friendship enter her life, she feels she can
finally put her hurtful past behind her.
But then war breaks out and as if that wasn’t upheaval enough, Rose
decides to rear her ugly head again. And she has a few unpleasant surprises
for Adele…
“A heartwarming tale of the triumph of the human spirit” Woman
& Home
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Denmark | Borgen |
| France | Editions Belfond |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Hungary | Pecsi Direct |
| Italy | Mondadori |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
| Sweden | Damm |
| Turkey | Epsilon |
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THE
EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF ONE WOMAN’S COURAGE
“As long as I’m still breathing then I’ll
still hope.”
In 1786 Mary Broad, a mariner’s daughter, makes the biggest mistake
of her short life and steals a silk hat from a passer-by.
For this crime she is sentenced to death.
But then Mary is given a reprieve. She is moved to a prison ship and told
that she and several hundred other convicts are to sail to a new colony
on the other side of the world – this fate for a girl who previously
had never been further than Plymouth in her life.
Courage and determination are Mary’s only two assets. When faced with
the horrific conditions on board and the unknown quantity of this new outpost
of the Empire she is bound for, she vows to survive, whatever it takes.
Based on a true story which made Mary Broad a cause celebre two hundred
years ago, Lesley Pearse’s new novel is one of the most gripping and
moving tales of human spirit you will ever read.
“As moving and engrossing as any of Pearse’s other best-selling
novels” The Bookseller
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Brazil (Portuguese) | Novo Conceito |
| Denmark | Borgen |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| German Book Club | Der Club |
| Greece | Minoas |
| Hungary | Ulpuis-Haz |
| Italian | Mondadori |
| Norway | Cappelen Damm |
| Portugal | ASA |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
| Sweden | Damm |
| Turkey | Epsilon |
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THE
NEW NOVEL FROM THE NUMBER ONE BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF FATHER UNKNOWN
You killed two people,’ Beth said. ‘ You are likely to spend
the rest of your life in prison because of it.’ Susan looked up again.
Her eyes had just a faint spark in them now. ‘It was worth it’,
she said.”
When they were children, Beth Powell and Susan Wright spent every August
together in Stratford-on-Avon. Susan was shy and plump, Beth was tall and
skinny. Both girls were loners because of their unhappy family backgrounds:
Susan had a live-in granny suffering from dementia, and Beth a vicious bully
of a father. But alone together, never admitting their problems, they were
happy.
Until fate intervened and separated them.
It’s twenty nine years later when they meet again. Susan is a down-and-out
who has shot two people in cold blood, and Beth is the lawyer allocated
to defend her. And as Beth prepares her defence by trawling through her
old friend’s tragic past, she has to face her own demons.
Yet the love the two women had for one another as children is still there,
even as the evidence against Susan mounts up. A love that must be stronger
than the traumas of their past. Because for one of them, there can be no
happy ending…
“This is storytelling at its very best.” Daily
Mail
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| France | Editions Belfond/France Loisirs |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Latvia | Zvaigzne |
| The Netherlands | Van Buuren |
| Norway | Cappelen Damm |
| Portugal | ASA |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
| Serbia | Laguna |
| Sweden | Damm |
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***
AN IRISH TIMES NUMBER 1 BEST-SELLER***
*** A UK SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER 1 BEST-SELLER ***
Daisy Buchan – sweet-natured but clueless – is happy enough,
but doesn’t seem to know what she wants from life. She takes her policeman
boyfriend Joel for granted and drifts from one badly-paid job to another.
But when she is 25, Daisy’s beloved adoptive mother dies and leaves
behind a scrapbook of memories, giving Daisy long-hidden information about
who she is and where she came from. Her real mother was a teenager called
Ellen, a farmer’s daughter from Cornwall, and Daisy sets out to find
out more and track her down. But in unraveling the past is she risking her
future – with her adored dad John, and with Joel?
As the layers of her family history are stripped away Daisy is horrified
by what she learns. She is taken on a journey back to the past, a journey
that uncovers a gripping story of innocence corrupted, and a family torn
apart by greed and misery…
“Definitely a winner” The Bookseller
Gripping and unputdownable” Sunday Independent
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| France | L'Archipel |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Greece | Oceanida |
| Portugal | ASA |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
| Serbia | Laguna |
| Sweden | Damm |
Top of page | Back to author page
***
A UK SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BEST-SELLER ***
Dulcie Taylor had heard so many people urge her to ‘trust me’.
Her mother, father, grandmother, teacher, policemen, social workers, nuns,
priests, and they had all betrayed her and her younger sister, May, in one
way or another. By the time she is fifteen, she has learned that the only
person she can really trust is herself.
Trust Me is the story of three emotionally scarred people, each struggling
in their own way to overcome their handicaps. Dulcie’s way is self
sacrifice, May’s is cunning, and Ross’ denial. It takes a child,
Noel, to bring about their healing. As the three adults are forced into
uneasy alliance to prevent Noel being damaged like them, they have to face
up to their own personal demons, and find the love each of them needed.
Set in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Trust Me is based on the true
life scandal of Child Migrants who were sent out from British orphanages
to Australia during the post-war period. No one checked to see they were
being properly cared for. They were lied to, ill-treated, many sexually
abused, and robbed of any real identity. Often their parents back home believed
they had been adopted or fostered. And many were told that their children
were dead.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Sweden | Damm |
Top of page | Back to author page
AN
EPIC SAGA OF LIFE, DEATH, TEARS, AND LAUGHTER, FROM THE BRITISH BEST-SELLING
AUTHOR WHO IS NOW CHALLENGING DANIELLE STEELE
*** A UK SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BEST-SELLER ***
Moving from the slums of Victorian London to the plains of the Wild West,
from the darkest edges of New York to the Gold Rush of San Francisco, Never
Look Back is the story of beautiful, intelligent Matilda, who rises out
of poverty to forge an new life for herself in the land of the free.
Escaping the deprivation she was born into, Matilda travels to America with
Giles, a Church of England Minister, his wife, Lily, and their young daughter,
Tabitha. There he finds passion and heartbreak, but it’s not until
she meets Captain James Russell that she finds true love. A love that must
withstand separation, war, and the constraints of their society.
Matty has a hard road to travel, but eventually she discovers that life
must go on, no matter how painful, and that she must never look back…
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin / Michael Joseph |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Italy | Mondadori |
| Portugal | ASA Edicoes |
| Sweden | Damm |
Top of page | Back to author page
****
A UK SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BEST-SELLER ***
Charlie is sixteen on the summer's afternoon she witnesses two
men attack and cripple her mother in the garden of their luxurious waterside
home in Devon. Her Chinese father, Jim, as dealer in antiques, is away on
business, but it soon becomes apparent to both the police and Cha-lee, when
he cannot be traced, that he cannot be the respectable and honourable man
everyone took him for.
Charlie is soon to see her pampered, cloistered childhood is over now and
that being clever and popular in school counts for little in the hard world
outside. In the course of police investigations it transpires her father
had liquidated all his assets before disappearing and Charlie has to face
not only betrayal at his hands, losing the beautiful family home and shame
in the community, but also the heavy responsibility of taking care of her
deeply disturbed and crippled mother.
For two years Charlie manfully juggles school, a part time job, and looking
after he mother. When she returns home one day to find her mother has committed
suicide she resolves to go to London to find work, and to unravel the mystery
of both her parents' past, and to seek out the real reason for her father's
disappearance,
With the support of her student boyfriend, Andrew Blake, and the assistance
of Rita Tutthill, a former night-club hostess, Charlie eventually stumbles
upon the truth, but in doing so she faces terrible danger at the hands of
Daphne Dexter, her mother's one time friend and father's mistress
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin / Michael Joseph |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
| Sweden | Damm |
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***
A UK SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BEST-SELLER ***
How long can you conceal the past before it comes back to haunt you?
Rosie Parker is only a child when her mother dies during the war. Left to
the less-than-tender mercies of her father Cole and her brutish step-brothers,
she sees the arrival of housekeeper Heather Farley as her salvation.
But when several years later, Heather mysteriously leaves the Parkers, abandoning
her small son, the terrible truth about Heather's disappearance eventually
comes to light and Rosie is compelled to leave the farm to make her own
way in the world. And if that means being exposed as the daughter of a murderer,
that's a risk she'll have to take ...
Rosi is the compelling story of how love and tenderness can grow, like wild
roses, out of the most barren ground.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin / Michael Joseph |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
| Greece | Dragounis |
| Sweden | Damm |
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***
A UK SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BEST-SELLER ***
Camellia Norton is just fifteen when her mother's body is fished from the
river.
When she discovers a cache of letters from three different men hidden amongst
her mother's effects, she realises that the past she has always been so
sure of has been built on a tissue of lies.
Devastated, she runs away to London and loses herself in a metropolis that
offers opportunity, temptation and danger, especially to a young girl hungry
for love and acceptance.
But her past won't stay buried forever and eventually Camellia begins the
long journey towards uncovering the truth about her background and also,
ultimately about herself.
Set in the late Sixties and early Seventies in 'Swinging' London with its
free love, flower children and drugs, Camellia gives a raunchy realistic
view of the period, and the seamier side of London.
Camellia is the sequel to Ellie,
and we meet again, almost a decade later some of its unforgettable characters:
Helena Forester, Bonny Norton, Jack and Magnus , and discover the results
of events they started.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin UK |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Greece | Minoas |
| Russia | Family Leisure Club |
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THE
ROMANTIC SAGA WRITER OF THIS CENTURY
Ellie is the story of two young talented dancers. Of powerful friendship,
sacrifice and ambition.
Ellie and Bonny are both evacuated from London at the onset of World War
Two. The war for courageous Ellie is heartbreak, danger and suffering, a
living nightmare which teaches her endurance.
For spoiled, self centred Bonny, war brings opportunity, a tantalising glimpse
of a stylish and comfortable way of living.
The girls come together in a variety show at the end of the war and although
vastly different, they share the same deep need for a true friend and a
fierce ambition to become Hollywood stars. But disaster tosses them from
the stage in London's West End, to seedy provincial revues. Ellie finds
herself jilted and pregnant, just as she is on the threshold of fame and
fortune. Bonny entraps a rich man into marriage by pretending to be carrying
his child.
Both desperate and somewhat naive together they plan the biggest deceit
of their lives, a plot which seems so beneficial to everyone, they overlook
the moral question, and indeed the future repercussions.
Laced with an unforgettable cast, Ellie is set in a rich tapestry of wartime
deprivation, glittering showgirls, idyllic country villages and bomb ravaged
London.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin UK |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
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REED
MADE A COMMITMENT OF A £50,000 BUDGET TO PROMOTE THIS BRILLIANT THIRD
NOVEL.
She'd lost faith, she'd lost hope, all she had left was...charity
Charity Stratton's bleak childhood is changed forever when, aged fifteen,
she, her brothers and sisters are orphaned. From the sanctity of their foster
home to menial labour at a boy's boarding school, Charity descends into
the depths of misery and despair. Only when she falls in love with dashing
but fickle sixth former, Hugh Mainwairing, is her loneliness eased.
But sixteen years old and pregnant with Hugh's baby it is not long before
Charity realises how lonely she really is.
Forced to give up her baby and fired by a fierce love for her siblings,
Charity is determined to reunite her family. Whatever it takes. Cutting
every corner and breaking every rule to reach her goal, Charity finds a
new life of fulfilment and self respect.
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
| Sweden | Damm |
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LESLEY
PEARSE'S UNFORGETTABLE SECOND NOVEL
Born in the East End of London with a violent father for a villain, Tara
escapes to the family farm in Somerset where she discovers the brutality
and tragedy that has been handed down through several generations.
Determined not to fall into the same trap, Tara uses her talents at dress
designing. But love brings her ever nearer to the world of crime. She loves
Harry Collins, but should she choose her wealthy employer Josh Bergman and
be sure of the life she desires?
Set during the 60's in London's gangland, it is a multi layered story of
Tara's struggle for success. Spiced with menacing gangsters, dangers and
thrills, Tara is unforgettable.
“A terrific read." Woman's Own
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin UK |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
| Hungary | Pecsi Direct |
Top of page | Back to author page
THE
FIRST NOVEL FROM LESLEY PEARSE
The story of a mixed-race orphan who sings her way into the heart of a nation.
Set in London during the 60's, this exciting novel reflects the atmosphere
and characters of Soho. Georgia is a wonderful character in this moving
and powerfully written novel.
"..a cracking tale" Today
| Territory | Publisher/Agent |
|---|---|
| World | Darley Anderson Agency |
| UK & Commonwealth | Penguin UK |
| Bulgaria | Hermes |
| Germany | Luebbe |
| Greece | Phytrakis Editions |
| Hungary | Pecsi Direkt |
| Sweden | Damm |
Top of page | Back to author page