New Book - Au Revoir Liverpool by Maureen Lee (Pages 1 - 55)

 First Published 2011

It is 1937, and Jessica's mother, Ethel, is getting married to Tom McGrath. 

Jessica, married and with two children, is not pleased because she loved her father very much and hates the idea of her mother getting married. She finds her stepfather vulgar. Tom is a barrister and a millionaire, and Ethel, who everybody agrees has never cared for anyone but herself, really loves him.

Jessica's husband, Bertie, is a disappointment for her because he is dull, controls her behaviour and money. That doesn't sit well with Will, Jessica's brother, who is in the navy and comes to stay with them on leave. Will overhears Bertie, and before leaving he tells his sister no to let Bertie browbeat her. Another problem Jessica has is her mother-in-law, Ida, who is hateful, and Bertie always sides with her.

When Ethel and Tom come back from their honeymoon, Jessica and her family visit them, and suddenly, Jessica starts feeling drawn to Tom. He tells the family that his secretary has left the office to join the army, and Tom suggests Jessica help him with the typing, but when Bertie overhears her, he refuses. However, Ethel tells him that it is Jessica's decision.

Some days later Tom appears with a typewriter and tells Jessica that one of his clerks will bring her letters to type and the same man will pick them up the next day. When Tom sees the typewriter, he expresses his disapproval, but Jessica lets him know that she wants to do the job and won't let him rule her.

When Bertie is not at home, Jessica likes indulging in some private pleasures. She enjoys smoking, going to see films at the cinema or listening to Al Bowlly's records. Then she decides to go to the hotel where her mother and Tom had their reception, and while she is there, Tom appears. He tells her that this is a hotel that belongs to his law firm, and he tells her about the trial that Jessica has been following. A sixteen-year-old woman has been accusing of murdering her employer. She had three children by him, and he was found stabbed in bed. Tom tells her that Mary Ann, the woman, has been acquitted because they have found the fingerprints of the man's wife on the knife, and Tom tells Jessica that now the woman is arrested. Tom is excited and at some point he and Jessica stare at each other. Then Tom leads her uptairs to a room, and then he kisses her, telling her that this is something he has wanted to do since they first met. After that, Jessica lets him guide her to the bed where they become intimate.

My, my. The beginning of the book has already gripped me, and the end of the last chapter has left me totally agog with curiosity. What is going to happen next? Jessica is not only deceiving her husband but her mother, and how will she and Tom cope from now on? Jessica can't leave Bertie because she has two children, who I think she will lose if she abandons her husband.