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Tanner #2
The Girl from Cotton Lane
Cotton Lane in dockland Bermondsey is one of the many small cobbled streets which serve the wharves. On the corner is Bradley’s Dining Rooms, the favorite eating place of the rivermen, trade union officials, and horse and motor drivers. Since her marriage to Fred Bradley, Carrie has been running the dining rooms, and trade has picked up since the end of the Great War. But all is not well between Carrie and Fred. For although they have a little daughter they adore, neither of them is happy. Will they ever know true happiness?
531 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 14, 1992
About the author
Harry Bowling
39 books21 followers‘I suppose most people would see the ability to tell a story as a talent to entertain, but where I was born and raised, being able to spin a yarn was considered an asset of survival and, at times, it became a necessity…’ he said.
Harry was born in 1931, in Leroy Street, a back street off the Tower Bridge Road, the second child of Annie and Henry Bowling. His older sister Gladys died of meningitis before her second birthday. Harry’s grandfather worked at a transport yard as a carman-horsekeeper. He used to take Harry there to watch him and to pat the horses. He spent his youth hanging around the Tower Bridge Road market or hunting through Borough Market, a wholesale fruit and veg market near London Bridge, exploring the docklands and wharves, and swimming in the Thames.
Harry’s first contact with books began at the local library encouraged by his father, who was permanently disabled after being wounded during the First World War. Henry Bowling was often unemployed and struggled to support the family. Harry was only ten when the Second World War broke out. He could remember the day when Surrey Docks was bombed. His father helped him with his early education and he and his younger brother passed scholarships to Bermondsey Central School. He left the school at the age of 14 to help the family income by working at a riverside provision merchant as an office boy.
Only when his own children began to ask questions about the war, did Harry realise how many stories he had to tell. He started gathering scribbles and notes and wrote his first book. It was a factual account of the war and Harry realised it would probably have only a limited readership. He became aware that historical fiction was very popular and that there was no one writing about the East End of London, and the war, at that time. In his fifties, he was given early retirement from his job as a brewery driver-drayman, and was at last able to devote his time to writing.
He became known as ‘the King of Cockney sagas’, and he wrote eighteen bestselling novels of London life.
Harry was born in 1931, in Leroy Street, a back street off the Tower Bridge Road, the second child of Annie and Henry Bowling. His older sister Gladys died of meningitis before her second birthday. Harry’s grandfather worked at a transport yard as a carman-horsekeeper. He used to take Harry there to watch him and to pat the horses. He spent his youth hanging around the Tower Bridge Road market or hunting through Borough Market, a wholesale fruit and veg market near London Bridge, exploring the docklands and wharves, and swimming in the Thames.
Harry’s first contact with books began at the local library encouraged by his father, who was permanently disabled after being wounded during the First World War. Henry Bowling was often unemployed and struggled to support the family. Harry was only ten when the Second World War broke out. He could remember the day when Surrey Docks was bombed. His father helped him with his early education and he and his younger brother passed scholarships to Bermondsey Central School. He left the school at the age of 14 to help the family income by working at a riverside provision merchant as an office boy.
Only when his own children began to ask questions about the war, did Harry realise how many stories he had to tell. He started gathering scribbles and notes and wrote his first book. It was a factual account of the war and Harry realised it would probably have only a limited readership. He became aware that historical fiction was very popular and that there was no one writing about the East End of London, and the war, at that time. In his fifties, he was given early retirement from his job as a brewery driver-drayman, and was at last able to devote his time to writing.
He became known as ‘the King of Cockney sagas’, and he wrote eighteen bestselling novels of London life.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 13, 2014
It's a great book if you like reading about working class communities post war. How families pulled together, how life was different and moved forward with life regardless what they came against. Enjoyed this with a brew and my feet up!
April 2, 2012
good read
January 13, 2017
A typical bowling First rate story telling..making everyone's life a Story worth telling...no need for murders and violence..it encapsulates the majoritory of peoples life during this period
May 26, 2026
A brilliant story of London life back in the day. The characters are really engaging. Harry's writing was excellent and I was saddened to learn that he passed away in 1999 after reading up on him. RIP and thank you for the great books!
July 31, 2013
i just could not get on with this book at all in fact i found it very boring
August 21, 2026
I thoroughly loved this book. Harry Bowling masterfully captures life in 1920s Bermondsey, brilliantly reviving the memorable characters from his first Tanner family novel. His historical research is superb, exquisitely recreating the gritty atmosphere of the London dockside. Bowling pulls no punches, describing the harsh, raw realities of life between the wars in vivid, true-to-life detail. The story concludes on a perfect note, leaving the door wide open for the next instalment, which I absolutely cannot wait to read. I highly recommend this gripping read to anyone who enjoys historical family sagas, though readers should be prepared for authentic London colloquial language.
January 12, 2022
Love all Harry Bowling novels, one of my favourite authors. Real characters, interesting plots and wonderful settings.
Romantic, gritty, funny, sad and educational.
Moving straight onto my next Harry Bowling novel The Farrans of Fellmonger Street.
Romantic, gritty, funny, sad and educational.
Moving straight onto my next Harry Bowling novel The Farrans of Fellmonger Street.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews