Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Fighter, conman, gangster – step onto the Canterbury Estate in the ‘40s and ‘50s and you know there’s one person you don’t want to cross: Charlie Hudson, the most infamous of the Canterbury Warriors.

Apprentice to notorious thug Mr Cappovanni, by the time Charlie’s in his 20s he’s running cons, illegal books and a band of prostitutes. He’s the top dog who wins with his fists when he needs to – and his brains when he doesn’t.

But when a tragic accident threatens to destroy all he’s built, it’s his heart rather than his hands that will prove to be his cataclysmic undoing…

Gritty and engrossing, My Uncle Charlie packs an emotional punch as it delves deeper into history of the infamous Hudson family; the true story of one man’s journey to power, and the tragedy that brought it all crashing down.

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 20, 2014

19 people are currently reading
137 people want to read

About the author

Julie Shaw

61 books24 followers
Pen name for author Lynne Barrett-Lee:

Born in London and now based in Wales, Ghostwriter Lynne Barrett-Lee has been a full time author since the mid nineties. Having enjoyed several years of success as a short story writer, with her fiction appearing in almost all of the UK’s leading women’s magazines, she had her first novel, the acclaimed Julia Gets a Life, published by Bantam in 2000. She has since written seven further novels, including her 2006 work, Barefoot in the Dark, which was shortlisted for the inaugural Melissa Nathan Award. Lynne was also approached to write one of the first titles in the Quick Reads series for emergent readers, and went on to ghost a further title for TV presenter Fiona Phillips.

Lynne began ghostwriting full length non-fiction in 2007, when approached to co-author paraplegic Melanie Davies' incredible story, Never Say Die, and since that successful collaboration has been ghostwriting full time. Her 2010 title, for Faith Scott, I Won’t Forgive What You Did, enjoyed seven weeks in the UK Sunday Times Bestseller list, as did the 2012 memoir The Baby Laundry. She also ghosted the acclaimed memoir Giant George: life with the World’s Tallest Dog a bestselling title in both the UK and US.

More recently, Lynne ghosted two bestselling titles which were published in the spring of this year. The first, Mum’s Way, is the story of mum of eight, Angie Millthorpe, who died of breast cancer, aged 48, in 2010. The second, The Girl With No Name, was published in May 13, and relates the story of a young girl abandoned in the jungles of Colombia, and has already been sold in eighteen countries, with film rights being negotiated and a National Geographic documentary being shown in December 13.

Lynne also co-writes a major non-fiction series for one of the world's leading publishers, under a pseudonym. The first seven titles have also all been Sunday Times bestsellers, with three more being published in 2013/14. The series was launched in the USA in 2013, and the first ebook in the series was a NY Times bestseller.

Lynne also writes about writing, as she teaches the craft weekly, at Cardiff University - her ebook NOVEL being the written distillation of her popular novel writing course.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
92 (50%)
4 stars
59 (32%)
3 stars
26 (14%)
2 stars
6 (3%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
5 reviews
January 31, 2024
Our vinnie which was the first book in the Hudson family series was more interesting. Although we learnt about all the siblings of June & therefore uncles/aunties of Vinnie, I didn’t find the main character of this one Charlie likeable at all. Although he had a rather interesting life, the sypopsis says he worked for notorious crime lord , during the book the author never really deep dived too much into cappovani in the kind of detail I’d like. Instead we just read about how the whole family just lived at the pub & didn’t really care about their kids lol.
Profile Image for Booklover BEV.
1,731 reviews52 followers
January 25, 2015
brilliant book couldnt put it down and shed a few tears for charlie while reading fantastic true story
Profile Image for Vicki - I Love Reading.
961 reviews58 followers
September 3, 2016
Having read the first book in this series, and then buying 2 more that then got lost away on my kindle, I decided it was time I caught up with the series as book 5 has now been published.
​This is the 2nd book in the Tales of the Notorious Hudson Family.1.​Our Vinnie
2.My Uncle Charlie

3.My Mam Shirley

4.Blood Ties

5.Bad Blood


​We follow the story of Charlie. I loveable rouge. It was great following his life story, his ups and downs and amazing how his story changed so much. One mistake, one bad night and your whole life can change.
It was a very interesting book, and at some points quite emotional, with some great characters, and it was great going back in time.
​It's very well written and put together and an easy read at just 240 pages.
​I really am looking forward to reading the rest of this series to see what Julie brings us.
Profile Image for Rachel Bustin.
248 reviews54 followers
January 15, 2015
I won this book with the Goodreads giveaway section, and I'm so glad I did! This genre of books are not my normal everyday reading, but this true family story got to me. It was very hard to put down, full of drama and suspense.
Profile Image for Dawn Gilbert.
7 reviews2 followers
December 7, 2014
brilliant, I had trouble putting this book down its a real page turner I couldn't wait to find out what happened next I would highly recommend this series of books to people who like a real life gritty read!
Profile Image for Nessa.
1,860 reviews71 followers
March 11, 2021
I listened to this on audiobook.

This is book 2 of 7 in the series. I’ll be honest and say that this one just didn’t entertain me as much as I hoped it would. It was well written and plenty of drama throughout, but I’m not much into fighting/boxing matches which is what this story centred around a fair bit and it stopped me from fully enjoying the story.

It was great getting to know all of the characters, of which there was quite a few, still can’t quite believe how many kids Annie had, one of which was Charlie.

Well I’m continuing with the series and here’s hoping that book 3 will be much more enjoyable for me.
Profile Image for laura.
46 reviews1 follower
December 20, 2017
Excellent book just couldn't put it down a teal look at Bradford in the past
84 reviews1 follower
May 1, 2018
Fabulous

Can't stop reading these stories. Stories ethereal life Hudson's and family. Rough, tough, down to earth, painful and funny all in one. Love them.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.