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1865: An alcoholic father, threats from gangs – Irene Angel hasn’t got an easy life
The Cockney Angel
What you need to know before your trail
Eighteen-year-old Irene Angel lives with her parents in a tiny room above the shop where her crippled mother ekes out a living selling pickles and sauces, whilst her charming but feckless father Billy gambles away what little money they do manage to earn. And it is all Irene can do to keep the family together.
Billy’s addiction soon leads him into trouble. Despite having been brought up by her father to fear and distrust the police, Irene finds herself forced to collaborate with them to save her father from ruin. But Billy’s errant ways finally catch up with him and he is imprisoned in Newgate jail. With her mother away from home, a desperate Irene has little choice but to seek help from Inspector Edward Kent – her sworn enemy. For only she can clear her father’s name and unite the family once more …
Locations
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London
This novel is firmly entrenched in Cheapside and that part of London. It follows the story of Irene and her family who own a picked shop at the corner of Cheapside and Wood street. Trade is slow and made more difficult by the fact their alcoholic father takes what little money they make.
London is evoked in every way:
Money slipped through his fingers as fast as the waters of the River Thames flowed through London
There is pride in what Irene does and what the shop stands for amongst London and its traders. The family are well respected but IRene like many others struggle to make a living. But there is a pungent smell of pickles and sauces which adds to the overall atmosphere.
When her father gets involved with the notorious Sykes gang, things take on a turn for the worst. This is the underbelly of the city, where people visit the inns, the whore houses and worse.
Irene like other girls has threadbare clothes which are no protection agains the elements. Cops are the enemy , at least according to her father, and life is what you make it. When winter claims the city, pea-souper fogs smother the streets in an evil-smelling blanket and frosts set in.
Irene is a girl for whom life is hard enough, but having a invalid mother and a useless father, is worse still.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Cockney Angel
Destination: London Author/Guide: Dilly Court Departure Time: 1865
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