Winnie of the Waterfront

Liverpool Sagas

by Rosie Harris

Crippled by polio, little Winnie Mallow has little to look forward to in life after her father is called up into the army and her mother, Grace, begins drinking heavily. After her father is killed in action Winnie is sent to an orphanage where she is the butt of children's taunts. At 14 she is sent out into the world and has to face the hardships of fending for herself. Hopefully she'll finding the love and fulfillment she's always longed to have.

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 2, 2004

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

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great storyline, as always, from Rosie

[Elaine Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The trials and tribulations of a girl crippled by infantile polio at the age of 4. With a dad who idolised her and would do anything for her and a mother who never had the time of day for her. Everything in her world was perfect until the war when her father was called up to serve his country.
It was a hard life which saw her placed in an orphanage but she survived and prospered although it was not all plain sailing but you would have to read it to find out more. A good emotionally fuelled read.

[Jacquie Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely superb

Such an un-put downable book!
The story of poor Winnie and how she copes with such a difficult life is amazing.
Well done Rosie, am on to another book of yours now.

[Rowlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story of Winnie and how she endured her life with her disability and found love.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

[Jennifer Roche · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it. Very pleased to read that with everything that Winnie went thru she came out good in the end, and I loved Sandy’s character, they made a great pair. Lovely written book.

[Bronwyn Rykiert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winnie Malloy was crippled by Polio when she was 4, she is the apple of her father Trevor’s eye and when is called to enlist in Kitchener’s Army in WWI he asks Winnie friend Sandy Coulsen if we would help Winnie too and from school in her push chair. Sandy is happy to help and when they receive word that Trevor is “Missing in Action – presumed dead” and Winnie’s mother goes missing after a drinking binge he helps her look for her, they find that she has died. She is moved into an orphanage where she remains until she is 14. She meets up with Sandy again after she leaves the orphanage and after she loses her first job he helps her find another. They eventually marry and open a café with the help of Peg who Winnie had worked for at Paddy’s Market.

This was a story to pass the time, a fill in. It was not a bad story.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a good book but the beginning did make me a bit sad because how horrible Winnie's mum was to her. Winnie was crippled by polio at the age of 4 and Winnie's dad had to look after her but then had to go to war and went missing presumed dead so Winnie was left with her mum but Winnies mum goes missing and Winnie and sandy go looking to find out she has died and Winnie had to go in a orphanage and they treated Winnie horribly . But I'm glad Winnie found love in the end with sandy who was a friend from school that pushed her to school and back home everyday but they lost touch when Winnie went to the orphanage but they found each other again.

[JackieB · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a present and not the sort of book I would buy for myself but I decided to give it a try. To be honest it really was not my cup of tea. The first part started grimly and got worse and worse. It was a bit like reading a fictional misery memoir. The second part after Winnie grew up was not as miserable but the plot was fuelled by a few too many coincidences to be completely credible. However the writing was good enough to hold my interest all the way through the book despite the flaws I mentioned above.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice easy read.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosie Harris is a great author, yet another excellent book.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall enjoyed this, however things happened beyond coincidental.