Child of the Mersey

Empire Street #1

by Annie Groves (pen name/series creator)

A brand new series from the bestselling author of A Christmas Promise. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn.

For the ordinary people of Empire Street, life will never be the same again.Kitty Fisher has plenty on her plate to keep her busy. Since her mother died when she was just a child, she’s cooked, cleaned and scraped to make ends meet for her drunken father and her headstrong brothers.Rita Kennedy, living with her husband under the roof of his spiteful mother-in-law, is desperate for their own home. Perhaps that will help them get their marriage back on the rails again?For the two women and others like them on Liverpool’s dockside and across the whole country, the threatening clouds of war will bring heartache and tragedy. It will take courage and the bonds of family and friends to help them see this through.

Genres: Historical Fiction

401 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 14, 2014

About the author

Penelope Jones Halsall aka: Caroline Courtney, Penny Jordan, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright

Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 in a Preston, Lancashire, England.
She had been a keen reader from the childhood. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction.

She has earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, she found an agent. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her name to Melinda Wright and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her present historical romance novels, she has adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70m of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Now Penny Halsall lived in a house in Nantwich, Cheshire. She worked from home.

Penny died on 31 December 2011.

Reviews

[kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. The characters were likeable except for Charlie, who I cannot stand. I love the two families and the setting. I love books set during the war.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this book, but I was a little disappointed. I enjoy reading stories from this era, and I have read several Annie Groves books before. It was incredibly predictable and didn't have anything different about it to make it stand out from the many other books in this genre. The only redeeming factor was the fact that it's the first part of a new series and so we can follow the characters through the years of the second world war. The main characters, Dolly, Rita, Nancy, Kitty, Jack, Frank, Pop and Tommy are all like able, and it's easy to feel that you're on their side when problems arise. I didn't like the way that during dialogue the author switches between the characters talking out loud and then to themselves, you have to be good at spotting the speech marks or it can get very confusing. An easy, light read okay between other more gritty books.

[Zaxxos Panidis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was dissapointed by this new book.There is no way that Sheila Riley is going to be as good as (the original) Annie Groves.Also a lot of mistakes in the writing (wrong names or time-continuity).I have already bought the next book But I don't think that I will buy the next one.

[Sarah Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, just now need follow on book to continue the story.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was mesmerized in this book along with my imagination helped me travel back in time to Liverpool, England to the second year of WW2. It helped me see in the Feeney, Callaghan and Kennedy lives. Nancy is a mother of a baby boy George. She wants to gallivant the roads with her wild friends like Stan while being married. Jack Callaghan and Rita share a secret regarding her son Mike. She is married to Charles a drunk and two timing husband whom they share a little girl with. Her mother in law is a snob and busy body and not very nice to her or the children. She has a few secrets that will bring shame on. These families have good times. They have trials and tribulations. Loving families support each other. It helps readers ask themselves how they respond to the situation faced in the book

[J Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

Enjoyed this book in the Empire Road series. !!Looking forward to reading the next in the series and hopefully Kitty and Frank get together!

[K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. The characters were likeable except for Charlie, who I cannot stand. I love the two families and the setting. I love books set during the war.

[Jocelyn Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the first book in this new series set on the fictional Empire Street on the Mersey docks, we meet the Callaghan and Feeny families. The Feeny family, consists of parents Dolly, a caring fiercely protective mother and Bert (known as Pop to everyone)who adores his wife and family and their children, Rita, Nancy, Sarah, Frank and Eddy. The Callaghan family saw the loss of their mother in 1930 during childbirth and they are left to the care of their father Sonny, though he is a drunk and gambler. But deep down despite his bad deeds he does care about his children and isn't the stereotypical drunken bully. His children are Jack, Danny, Kitty and Tommy. The story begins with the death of the Callaghan matriarch in 1930 and Dolly's promise to look out for her best friends children. We then move ahead nine years just before the war begins. Kitty is struggling to support her family on the small allowance she gets from brother Jack who long since moved out after a fall out with his father. She has also developed a love of cooking and baking and is busily preparing a cake for the wedding of Nancy Feeny. Rita is married with two children and stuck in a miserable existence with a controlling, whining mother in law and a husband without any redeeming qualities about him at all. He was well written though, I know I wanted to smack him and I think I might've swore at the book at a few things he said and did to his wife. After war is declared Rita finds herself again. Her children evacuated to the country for safety and not wanting to remain at home bored and nagged by her mother in law, she takes up nursing again. Kitty finds work in a NAAFI canteen serving food to servicemen, one by one the boys head off to war or in Tommy's case the countryside, with the exception of one who learns of a heart condition forbidding him from serving and sinks into a deep depression. From there the story follows their lives through the beginning of the war the "phony war" as it was known. There is no shortage of drama during this time, as tragedy, illness, injury, death, childbirth, and romance or hints at romance occur throughout the book, nothing serious yet, but something to set up the rest of the series. The book ends just as the Battle of Britain is about to begin, the Channel Islands have been occupied, and the bombers are making their way to for the docks. I cannot wait until the next book in the series comes out. An excellent start to what I hope will continue to be a wonderful series.

[Amy DeWolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THESE BOOKS! So I accidentally started reading book two, not knowing it was in a series. So then I stopped and ordered all the other books and started from the beginning.

The Empire Street series follows the Callaghan and Feeny families, as well as their neighbours, through the war. They’re everyday type of folk, hardworking and salt of the earth. They go through love and heartbreak and sending their sons/husbands/brothers off to fight.

I love books that show everyday life like these ones. The characters are realistic and you’ll fall right in love with them.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took this book away with me its about two womens lives during the war. Mother in laws, cheating husbands and family members away fighting for their country. All this covers the worries of these families at a time when holding on to your inner strength is a must, enjoyed it.

[Joanna Warrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book in a new series. I have already pre-ordered the second!

[Jackie White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 1 of 3, a little bit predictable but will give book 2 a go

[rozanne jukes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant read

I chose this rating as I found it was a really good,I look forward very much to reading her next books.

[A Red Headed Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another favouite author of mine, empire street saga is the last of Annies i have to read and i have fallen completely in love with this story and the families already!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a few errors with wrong names in the wrong places but it didn't stop me from loving this book!