An East End Story

Download or read book An East End Story written by Alfred Gardner and published by . This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One evening in the long hot summer of 1959, Alfred Gardner was walking home along Commercial Road. Noticing a woman who had collapsed, he ran to a phone box to call an ambulance only to be beaten to it by an older man. Chance encounters often spark friendships and this was to be the start of a camaraderie spanning thirty-seven years. They were an unlikely duo. Gardner, in his late teens, had never journeyed too far from Stepney. Upson, in his early thirties, had an extraordinary life already. For Gardner, the Second World War meant vague memories of returning from evacuation in Hartlepool in 1944 to a Stepney now under threat from Germany's V1 and V2 rockets. But two years earlier, Upson had faced even greater dangers when the Japanese Air Force bombed Rangoon. The fifteen-year-old, who took up smoking and drinking to appear older, joined Burma's tiny navy. Nearly twenty years later, as they wander the streets, pubs and clubs of the East End, a fascinating cast of characters emerges. There are exotics such as Red Boots Danny, the reforming East End cleric Father Joe Williamson. At the Waterman's Arms, they rub shoulders with celebrities, noticing Clint Eastwood enjoying a quiet drink at the bar. And Upson seems to know everyone. His friend watches amazed as men, women, old and young spring forward to shake his hand and greet him. Gardner, meanwhile, pushes himself into the background. With his photographic memory, he is the camera documenting their travels. After Upson's death in 1996, Gardner makes a sentimental journey through Wapping, the walk that the two friends often took. Starting at Tower Bridge, he strolls down St Katharine's Way and on to Shadwell Park. Much of Wapping has changed out of recognition, the old wharfs replaced by new apartments and penthouses. He stops by Old Aberdeen Wharf to view Rotherhithe opposite. Just as Upson had predicted, the ships are gone, just a few rusty barges clank together ...

Download or read book An East End Murder written by Charles Finch and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2011-11-15 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the acclaimed author of the Charles Lenox series of mysteries, including the Agatha-nominated novel A Beautiful Blue Death, comes a riveting short story of death and detection on the East End. It's the end of winter 1865 when Lenox agrees to investigate the death of Phil Jigg, a beloved neighborhood regular, found strangled on Great St. Andrews Street. In a case that takes him through the noisy vendors and pickpockets, the rough-and-tumble back alleys and local pubs of the Seven Dials, Lenox looks for answers in a place that couldn't feel more foreign from his West End home—and where his presence is anything but welcome. The answer comes in the person of someone so ruthless and brutal that those who could help Lenox are terrified into silence. A whodunit filled with the kind of brooding atmosphere that led Library Journal to remark, "Readers of Anne Perry should be snatching up Finch's books and clamoring for more" (starred review of A Stranger in Mayfair), this is a delightfully vivid addition to the Charles Lenox series.

Download or read book Reggie Kray's East End Stories written by Reggie Kray and published by Sphere. This book was released on 2010-07-01 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The name Reggie Kray remains synonymous with London's East End to this day, and yet although much is known about Reg and his brother Ronnie's life of crime in the '50s and '60s, to date precious little has been revealed about their formative years. Reggie wrote his EAST END STORIES in the early 1990s, but they haven't seen the light of day until now. In the book, he recalls the close-knit East End community in which he and his brother grew up, the characters in his family and neighbourhood, and of course, the many villains he worked with. Filled with anecdotes about the area's most outlandish personalities and notorious criminals, and offering a fascinating journey around the Krays' 'manor' including their favourite haunts and business enterprises, the book paints a vivid portrait of a London that has long since disappeared.

Download or read book The East End written by Jason Allen and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart." —Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award finalist Corey Halpern, a local high schooler, grew up working class in the Hamptons and is desperate to leave his home-town and start anew somewhere else. The summer before college, he finds escapism in sneaking into neighboring mansions and pocketing small items. One night just before Memorial Day weekend, he breaks into the wrong home at the wrong time: the Sheffield estate, where he and his mother, Gina, work. Under the cover of darkness, Leo Sheffield, patriarch and billionaire CEO, arrives unexpectedly with a companion. After a shocking poolside accident, Leo is desperate to cover up what happened before his family and friends arrive for the holiday weekend. Unfortunately for him, Corey saw everything, as did other eyes in the shadows. Secrecy, obsession and desperation dictate each character's path in this spectacular debut. With an ending as explosive as the Memorial Day fireworks on the island, The East End is an unforgettable debut about class, family secrets, and the desire to belong.

Download or read book Sisters of the East End written by Helen Batten and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-09-26 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heart-warming tales of nursing and midwifery from the Sisters who worked with Jennifer Worth. ‘A second’s silence and then an almighty scream. It was the most moving thing I had ever seen ... A baby, a real live baby, another human life had entered the world. It didn’t seem possible and yet I had witnessed it with my very own eyes.’ Born into a happy working-class North London family in the mid-twentieth century, Katie is determined to ‘do something’ with her life. Working in the impoverished East End in the 1950s, she meets the Sisters of St John the Divine – a community of nuns dedicated to nursing and midwifery. The Sisters have been present at births, cared for the sick and laid out the dead of the East Enders for a hundred years, and Katie soon joins them to start her journey to becoming Sister Catherine Mary. As a nurse and midwife, Katie learns to deal with everything from strokes to breech births. Tragedy is never far away, but there are also moments of pure joy as lives are saved and the Poplar residents rally round. As a young novice Katie rallies against the vow of obedience, yet over the years learns much about the nature of dedication and love. Full of desperate hardship, humour and compassion, Katie’s story brings to life the unique world of these nursing Sisters in London’s East End. Sister Catherine Mary’s story was written by Helen Batten after in-depth interviews with today’s Sisters of the Community of St John the Divine. The Community of St John the Divine was founded in 1848 in a bid to make nursing a respectable profession. Early Sisters worked in the Crimea with Florence Nightingale and were instrumental in developing recognised training and qualifications for nurses and midwives. In the early 20th century they were working in areas such as Poplar and Deptford becoming a treasured part of the community. Today the Sisterhood is based in Birmingham and their website is www.csjd.org.uk. Helen Batten studied history at Cambridge and then journalism at Cardiff University. She went on to become a producer and director at the BBC and now works as a writer and a psychotherapist. She lives in West London with her three daughters.

Download or read book The Little History of the East End written by Dee Gordon and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2020-10-21 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern history of London's East End has been well-documented – but what of its ancient roots? From embryonic beginnings in the Stone Age, through Roman rule and civil wars, all the way to its jam-packed twentieth-century timeline, the East End has always been a place of innovation, diversity and change. Written by an East Ender with a love of her roots, The Little History of the East End is an engaging look at the area's history through the people that made it, one that will enthral and surprise both residents and visitors alike.

Download or read book East End 1888 written by William J. Fishman and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: East End I888 documents in minute detail the social, political, and economic life in the notorious slums of East London during the reign of Queen Victoria. The setting for Jack the Ripper's atrocities, East End was synonymous with crime, filth, disease, and the dregs of humanity. W. J. Fishman focuses on a single year, one century ago and one century after the storming of the Bastille. Poignant accounts of homeless families choosing starvation rather than submitting to the inhumanity and separation of the workhouse are contrasted with lively reports of entertainment in music halls and "penny gaffs" or freak shows, where Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man, was discovered. Providing numerous excerpts from contemporary newspapers, police records, workhouse journals, novels, medical reports, church sermons, and political debates, Fishman illuminates a slice of life in Victorian England. Author note: William J. Fishman is Professor of Political Studies at Queen Mary College, University of London.