The East End of London has such a colourful and rich history but not everyone sees past the glorious edifice of Canary Wharf and the new Docklands. It was the wonderful Jennifer Worth who recently raised the East End’s profile, author of ‘Call the Midwife’. The full flavour of the poverty ridden streets and plight of the communities in the post war years was brought to life between her pages. About the same time, the Kray twins were strengthening their hold in the underworld and with the advent of the 60’s the East End Streets became a Mecca for the flower power revolution. Tourists flocked to indulge in the fashion, art, literature and swinging atmosphere. But centuries before, French Protestant Huguenots settled in Spitalfields and, like the Irish settlers were ostracized by the locals because they brought such wonderful silk weaving with them, narrowing the jobs market. Dramas like the Gordon Riots, the Houndsditch Murders, the Sidney Street Siege and the Battle of Cable Street filled the newspaper headlines. Strikes have always been prevalent, with work scarce, and men having to ‘wait on the stones’ daily for the chance of a casual job. And it’s these events that reflect the nature of my books; families torn apart by poverty and crime and a desperate attempt to survive. Men set against men for a pittance. Women, like Jennifer Worth’s characters, bearing child after child in wretched and degrading circumstances. The two World Wars with only twenty years separating  them, provided the terrible killing fields for many thousands of East Enders. And, indeed, with this melting pot of life influencing each of my novels, I hope to reflect the homespun warmth and brave spirits of families down the ages and the tightly-knit communities of the twentieth century. To find out a little more, please enjoy my website www.carolrivers.com

We tend to think of the wartime era, 1939-1945, as drab and unvaried, full of dour uniforms and ungainly, old-maid underwear – “passion-killers” – such as our grannies wear. But it was during these years that women were at their most resourceful and many used their ingenuity in the most astonishing of ways; eyebrow pencil for drawing seams down bare legs, barrage balloon material was silky and some of it could be made into underwear, or dresses and coupons were only important if you bought new garments. And many in the East End of London (my writing turf) had cut their teeth on the market stalls decades before rationing. As for service wear, you only have to watch the TV dramas (the wonderful “Foyle’s War” for instance, pictured above) to see a fair example of those sizzling nipped-in waists and wiggly behinds. Though the uniform material was rough and the design utility, there were still buttons to undo and any girl lucky enough to have bosoms enjoyed flaunting a decent bust. On the home front it may have been overalls and turbans, but make-up was still available from the black-market and the GI’s if it couldn’t be found on the shelves. It was all curving eyebrows, lashings of mascara and full, red lips to complement the flutter of long, teasing eyelashes. There was a certain mystique to women at this time, for the female sex valiantly turned their hands to driving, building, flying, labouring, mechanics, engineering, plumbing and wiring, virtually anything a man could do, whilst still looking feminine into the bargain. In the absence of husbands, lovers, brothers and fathers, their jobs were filled by their counterparts and were done very well. Which was why, post-war, the status-quo never really got back to “normal” as I’ve heard it described so many times by both women and men who lived in the 40’s. And I’ve interviewed just as many women who say that the practical and restrained designs of a boxy-shouldered jacket, belted waist and short, straight skirt, caused them to feel more slender and alluring than they did pre-war. As I mentioned in my previous blog, this month, “Cockney Orphan”, one of my republished novels from 2006 titled “Connie of Kettle Street”, is brought back by popular demand. Set in wartime the story touches on the many almost impossible challenges a small family has to cope with.This era is full of adventure, romance and of course, fashion. The heroine, Connie, falls in love in troubled times. Like many women of her generation and with the added responsibility of the orphan she takes under her wing, Connie takes a simple delight in making herself look attractive. The outcome of this – well, I won’t spoil the surprise – perhaps you’d like to read the novel to find out just how, who and when!

In April of this year, Simon & Schuster have decided to republish one of my earlier books, ‘Connie of Kettle Street’. The novel is freshly titled as ‘Cockney Orphan’. The book has a new cover too, so I thought it best to let my readers know well in advance of these plans. However, if you’ve not read ‘Connie of Kettle Street’, then ‘Cockney Orphan’ might be for you. In the autumn of 1940, London suffered its first devastating encounter with the Luftwaffe. These nightly bombings, historically known as the Blitz, continued uninterrupted until May of the next year. The docks were the intended targets; mile upon mile of incendiary bombs dropped by the waves of bombers, lit up a jewelled path, carving the land beneath into sitting targets. The Isle of Dogs was one of the first areas to sustain damage on the night of September 7 1940. And it’s here that my book ‘Cockney Orphan’ opens, in the mean streets of the East End, a stone’s throw from Bow and its famous bells. The Isle of Dogs is a horseshoe of land jutting out into the River Thames (made famous by the TV series, East Enders.) Centuries before, the land was rough terrain, inhospitable and a supposed exercise ground for the royal hounds – hence its name! During the Blitz however, this busy shipping route brought in vital supplies for the nation and its people. So, it only made sense for the Axis powers to attack here first. The home front action of the people of docklands as they fought back, is chronicled in ‘Cockney Orphan’. Hard to imagine that the magnificence of Canary Wharf was once a cluster of smoke-blackened houses and factories lining the docks! So for those who know little of – or want to know more about Londoners living in such a historic decade – ‘Cockney Orphan’ may be for you. This traumatic era is seen through one young woman’s eyes, Connie Marsh, as she experiences the first life-changing night of the Blitz, sweeping her through five long years of conflict to Victory Day and beyond; years that were to change Connie and her family for ever – and the whole world too!

Beautiful, elegant photos, aren’t they? February has a link with a very charismatic family indeed. I have always been fascinated by the part the Romanovs played in Russia’s turbulent history. So much so, that some of my research for my novel, “In the Bleak Midwinter” made quite harrowing reading. I had decided to write about another family, a very poor one, in the East End of London, at the time when the world was trying to recover from huge losses of life caused by the Great War. In February 1917, a year before the end of world conflict, Tsarist Russia drew to a conclusion. Whilst countries across the board had suffered millions of deaths, the Romanov family was caught up in its own downward spiral. This monarchy was about to lose its grip on the people and become a dinosaur of the past. The cost of the Great War and the terrible suffering caused to soldiers and civilians alike meant this vast, troubled nation chose to have redress on its royalty, who up until then, had ruled supreme. In 1918, the Russian Royal Family was placed under house arrest. Leon Trotsky wrote in his diaries that the execution of the Royals took place on the authority of Lenin. We are told that the Romanovs were taken to a cellar and the command was given and weapons were raised. Each member was executed although legend had it that one daughter, Anastasia, escaped. Could this be true? Who knows? This is why it’s so fascinating to create historical family dramas for Simon&Schuster. I feel privileged to write with a blend of fact and fiction through the generous spy hole of history.

January celebrates the New Year with wonderfully fresh fashions at London’s Fashion Week. We are treated to fun, frivolous, fantastic creations to light up the darker days of winter. I like to compare some of the current designs to those eras I write about. From the early 1900’s to the 1960’s, the connections are quite amazing. In my last novel “A SISTER’S SHAME”, my twin heroines loved to dress-up, to be part of the fashion scene despite their abject poverty. One twin, Vesta, almost sold her soul to achieve her dream appearance. In 2013 it’s relatively cheap to create a celebrity “look” – every magazine, reality TV show and celeb interview provide the inspiration for us to opt for retail therapy. But between the two world wars of 1914-18 and 1939-1945, there was a span of only twenty years. In those two decades, believe it or not, hedonism was at its height. Perhaps we women were making up for lost time – and trying to turn men’s heads, not towards conflict but to beauty and romance. Would history be re-written if women had been in charge? One of the most iconic beauties of the day was the German American actress and singer, Marlene Dietrich. She epitomized the divided nations yet her allure and mystery enticed both men and women to worship at her feet. What would have happened I wonder, if she had been a politician and not a movie star? Who knows! So I’m posting two gorgeous pictures, one of Marlene in all her finery and the other of a stunning model of this year’s Fashion Week. There is very little difference – other than the seemingly irrelevant matter of seventy-eight years!

On December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens’ ‘Christmas Carol’ was published. The story is one of my favourites. Not just because of the seasonal plot line, heart-warming characters and cracking dialogue, but because the real essence of Christmas is conveyed with a delightful simplicity. The story is about a family and one wealthy but lonely and disillusioned man. We join Scrooge in his misery and poor Bob Cratchit, in his hope of being released from his labours in time to celebrate Christmas with his family. There is crisp white snow falling, perhaps a piping hot succulent turkey to come. Dickens shows us it’s the love shared in a family – who hardly have enough money to feed themselves – that is most important. And, more. At the heart of Christmas Carol is the promise of transformation. Scrooge, haunted by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, mends his ways and brings to both himself and the once doomed Cratchit family, happiness beyond belief. Just as the Bible tells of the hope of Christmas, a new life born into the world that will change our lives for the better. All religions, faiths and belief systems have wonderful, uplifting stories of their own to share. When times are hard, we have these stories to inspire us, none the least, A Christmas Carol. Thank you Charlie, for your gift, published well over a hundred and fifty years ago. So happy Christmas everyone! And, like the Cratchits, may we all remember to enjoy the small blessings just as much as the big ones. Very often, they are the most precious.

Amazing coiffeur of the 1930′s as in my latest novel A SISTER’S SHAME

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October is a celebratory month for me. It’s when my latest novel, A SISTER’S SHAME is published in paperback and ebook. Simon&Schuster have designed another wonderful cover, showing the heroine, Marie Haskins, as she might have looked in those pre-war days. The details at Amazon read something like this. “London’s East End, 1934.  Marie and Vesta Haskins would give up everything to dance on stage, but could they lose each other? The eighteen-year-old twins work at the local shoe factory to bring in a few pennies for the family, but they’ve never given up on their dream of treading the boards in the West End. When a brand new East End club opens its doors, the girls audition for the show and are over the moon to land two nights a week with their cabaret act. But little do they realise that the villainous Scoresby brothers are using the club as a front for a very different line of business. Seeing what is going on behind the smoke and lights of the stage, sensible Marie vows to leave her job at the club before it is too late, but headstrong Vesta has fallen for the Scoresby’s handsome right-hand man, Teddy, and unwittingly leads her whole family into the Scoresby’s clutches. Will Marie be able to save her family from disaster? Or will Vesta’s determination to become a star tear the Haskins family apart? I hope the book matches up to this exciting summary. Or perhaps, exceed expectations? It was a heart-felt book to write and I hope readers everywhere enjoy it and experience just what it would have been like in those glamorous days to achieve the promise of fame and fortune!

AMAZON

]]> http://carolrivers.com/october-and-publication-of-a-sisters-shame/feed/ 0 http://carolrivers.com/septembers-scream-queen/ http://carolrivers.com/septembers-scream-queen/#comments Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:41:25 +0000 Carol Rivers http://carolrivers.com/?p=1885

This deliciously sultry actress, Fay Wray, was none other than the skimpily clad heroine of “King Kong” fame. She played in many other subsequent movies and many of them early horrors. She earned the title of “Scream Queen” and went on to star in many roles during her long career, but people always remember her as the actress clasped in the big ape’s hand, the unfortunate beast who fell in love with his tiny captive. For September’s stunner I have chosen the original Scream Queen, the beauty who made a perfect transition from the silent screens to the talkies. It’s interesting to discover that she was offered a cameo part in the 2005 remake of “King Kong”. But she declined. And ironically, died in her sleep as the filming commenced.

I’ve chosen Jean Harlow for August’s beauty. Isn’t she stunning? Even amongst the star-studded galleries of the 1930′s movie stars, she was in a league of her own. I used Jean as a template for my eighteen-year-old character “Vesta”, in my new book A SISTER’S SHAME, published right now in hardback and Kindle, but the paperback edition is out in October. Beautiful Vesta isn’t my heroine – she’s the twin sister of my leading lady, “Marie”. The girls possess a classical beauty, just like Jean Harlow. They have crimped blond hair, ice-blue eyes and slender, feminine figures. They revel in the 1930′s fashion; the nipped-in waists, padded shoulders and hip-hugging styles that could turn any woman into a vamp. My drama-based story does exactly this; the lure of the bright lights, the stage and performance, the adulation of the audience – my twins are drawn into this exciting, seductive and ultimately life-changing arena. Both girls come from harrowingly poor backgrounds. They have nothing but their voices and looks. They’re willing to put everything on the line to achieve success. Like our X Factor contestants, desperate to win, pushing their voices to the ultimate, following their mentors’ advice with a kind of desperate gratitude, they fight their way to the top. Vesta and Marie follow this path too. My story might have been set seventy-eight years ago, but it could have been written for today. Study Jean’s Harlow’s expression in the photograph above. Read the message in her eyes. Recognize it? The spirit of August’s Beauty can be found in any woman – in our dreams and visualization – in our fantasies and in those dark, deep secrets that every woman keeps close to her heart.