The Nurses Of Lark Lane by Pam Howes @bookouture @PamHowes1

Book Description:

Can she follow her dreams – against all the odds?

Liverpool, 1955. With her abusive husband drinking all her wages, Alice faces a daily struggle to provide for her family. Her eldest daughter Cathy has always longed to be a nurse, but when the family’s poverty means she’s forced to leave school and get a job – without the qualifications she needs – it looks like her dreams are over.

But Cathy isn’t willing to give up without a fight, and with the support of old friend – and new love – Gianni, she manages to secure a place as a cadet nurse, learning as she works.

Cathy knows that without her around, her mam must stand up to her violent husband alone – and that with less money coming in, Alice will be in danger of losing everything. What’s more, since nursing students must be unmarried, and Gianni is desperate to settle down, it’s not just her mam who hopes that Cathy will come home…

Can Cathy find a way to have it all, or will becoming a nurse mean leaving her family – and love – behind her?

The Nurses of Lark Lane is a heart-breaking saga about a family’s battle to survive. If you love Nadine Dorries, Diney Costeloe and Donna Douglas, you won’t want to miss Pam Howes!

An earlier version of this book was previously published as Cathy’s Clown. This edition contains significant editorial revisions.

My Thoughts:

The Nurses of Lark Lane catches up with the characters that are in The Shop Girls of Lark Lane. This book focuses more on Cathy though, Alice’s daughter, and reads well as a stand alone.

It was great to catch up with the characters again and I loved the young lady that Cathy has become. I loved her strength and determination in not giving up on her dreams. She has an old head on young shoulders and she doesn’t take fools gladly.

The author really brings to life the era the book is set in with mention of different style clothes and the hair styles. I also loved the new and old friendships that Cathy strikes up. It was great to gain a bit more knowledge as Cathy embarks on her dream of becoming a nurse. It really makes for some addictive reading.

The Nurses of Lark Lane is an engaging, page turner of a read. There are characters you love and some you definitely love to hate. I loved the familiarity of the characters whilst getting to know some better as well as some new ones also. I loved Cathy’s journey and didn’t want it to end. The down side to this authors books is as they are so compelling, it leaves me desperate for more. Highly recommended.

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.

The Nurses of Lark Lane is available to purchase from Amazon. (Please note that link used us an affiliate link).

Pam Howes was born in Cheshire. She is an ex Interior Designer who began writing seriously in the mid nineties. The idea for her first novel, set in the sixties, was inspired by her time as a teenager, working in a local record store and hanging around with musicians who frequented the business. That first novel evolved into a series set in the fictional town of Pickford, based on her home town of Stockport. Three Steps to Heaven; ‘Til I Kissed You; Always On My Mind; Not Fade Away, and That’ll Be The Day, follow the lives and loves through the decades of fictional Rock’n’Roll band The Raiders. Pam is a big fan of sixties music and it’s this love that compelled her to write the series. A stand-alone true-life romance, Fast Movin’ Train, set in the nineties, was published in early 2012. Pam is mum to three adult daughters, grandma to seven assorted grandchildren, and roadie to one musician partner. 

Pam recently signed a second contract with the award winning publisher Bookouture and the first novel in her new Lark Lane series, The Factory Girls of Lark Lane, will be published in July 2018. 
Her first series for Bookouture – The Mersey Trilogy – is available in E book, paperback and as audio books.

The Lost Daughter of Liverpool
The Forgotten Family of Liverpool
The Liverpool Girls

Follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pam-Howes-Books/260328010709267

And Twitter @PamHowes1