One Step Forward

by Rosie Harris

Life seems to be one step forward, two steps back, but Katie never gives up hope. When she is only a girl, her handsome but wicked father, Lewis, is imprisoned for theft, leaving Katie and her mother homeless and penniless. When Lewis is released years later, it seems that life must improve. But to Katie’s horror, it becomes worse than she has ever known it. When she and her father are left alone together, Katie seeks happiness and love elsewhere but, as she struggles to make a new life for herself, there is difficulty and danger at every turn…

384 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Rosie Harris was born in Cardiff and for several years worked in the City Hall. Her husband, Ken, was from Wallasey and after they married they lived on Merseyside for many years.
She has been writing since the 1950’s. In the 1960’s she ran her own agency, Regional Feature Service, writing articles for most of the provincial newspapers.
During the 70’s she became Editorial Controller for a non-fiction house.
In the 1980’s, after publishing a number of non-fiction titles she turned to fiction and during the 1980/90’s had a number of short stories published as well as five books by Sphere under the name Marion Harris.
Since 2002 she has had some 20 books published by Heinemann/Arrow. She sets her books in the 20’s because she has a great admiration for the women who were wives and mothers in those days. They had none of the current time-saving equipment – no washing machines or vacuum cleaners, no instant electric fires or cookers, and certainly no Internet. Their days were long and arduous and often they had to manage on very little money.
In 2005 she was one of the judges when Arrow and Asda collaborated in a major national competition to find the next big saga writer.
Her most recent titles are Love Changes Everything and The Quality of Love. The next, Whispers of Love, will be published in March 2010.

Reviews

[Elaine Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite having a fair bit of action this was a surprisingly light and easy read

[Akila Perera · Rating 5 out of 5]

All Katie has wished for since a little girl was to free herself from the slums of Tiger Bay.
So when her dad returns from prison she thinks that life is going to take a step forward afterall..

But her father is a changed man and when she is almost raped by her father she knows that life actually took her two steps back..

Katie's father gets her mother and herself a two bedroom house in an attic and the idea of having her own bedroom and a good job waiting tables is finally a win for Katie.

But this again is short lasting when she finds out that her father has in fact bought them to a brothel and wishes Katie to join the girls downstairs.. When her mother is diagnosed with a heart condition and dies soon after, there is no one to protect Katie from the evils that lie outside her room.

A heart touching story of a little girl that had to grow up before her time, and of the courageous young woman she becomes to battle her fate and somehow escape the horrors of her past to write a new story for herself..

[Lisa Wentworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really juvenile writing style; have read some of her others and same thing...can't keep my attention. On this book, time frame is changed throughout as after thought, characters are weak and flip personalities, impoortant facts are later fprgotten. Basically, the protaganist Katie is the product of a very evil father that tries to rape her and later wants to pimp her out, and a weak mother that was strong but suddenly is so weak she goes aloing with it and stands by her man. Frustrating plot, if there even is one, no arc to the story and inconsistencies throughout. All round frsutrating read, I
have no idea how this person became an author. Pardon my typos, my keyboard is broken. I like the covers so have grabbed a few of these, which shows you can't judge a book by it;s cover... pghdjher

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good.

Although I enjoyed reading this book, I felt it ended rather quickly. There is a lot of loose ends, I wish it had been finalised!

[Layla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, I read this years ago as well. when these book rating sites never existed.

[Bronwyn Rykiert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out as a 4 but by the end of the book it fell to a 3.

Katy Roberts had a normal life, living with her parents and her grandmother until her father Lewis was arrested for theft and her grandmother died, when she was 8. leaving Katy and her mother Rachel homeless and broke.

Rachel found them one room in a house where they lived for 5 years until they were kicked out, after her father had arrived there from prison. She had a friend Allard, who fell in love with Katie but she did not return his feelings. I found myself not liking Kate at all after awhile. For the life she had led I thought she was too naïve, I felt she should have been smarter and I could not understand why she thought the life Allard would give her would not be good enough, after how she had lived. Of course meeting Roderick Thomas had her hopes aimed high and she got what she wanted.

I was glad when I finished the book.

[Jennifer Leather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have received 4 starts but for the ending. It's an enjoyable easy read set in Cardiff but the end just felt to abrupt and unfinished with far too many loose ends. I was shocked it ended where it did and feel there should have been a little more. I feel like I've not actually finished reading it :( Shane really.