#PublicationDay The Long and Winding Road by Lesley Pearse

Happy Publication Day! - From the No.1 bestselling author Lesley Pearce comes her own unforgettable story - The Long and Winding Road.

Pic credit/copyright: Charlotte Murphy

About the Author

Lesley Pearse is one of the world’s leading storytellers with numerous No.1 bestsellers to her name and fans who span the globe. A Lesley Pearse book is sold every 4 minutes in the UK and with sales of over 10 million copies, she has dominated the bestseller charts for the last 30 years. Yet Lesley’s success is all the more remarkable because her first book wasn’t published until she was 48, and until that moment, her life was more incredible than any fiction. 

Lesley now lives in Torquay, Devon where she loves to spend time walking on the beach with her grandchildren. A fantastic speaker and committed and passionate fundraiser for the NSPCC, Lesley is a much sought-after guest at literary lunches, library events and festivals up and down the country.

About the book

Born in Kent during the Second World War, Lesley’s life changed irrevocably when a neighbour found her, aged 3, coatless in the snow. The mother she’d been unable to wake had been dead for days. Separated from her brother, and sent to an orphanage, Lesley soon learned adults couldn’t always be trusted, and certainly weren’t always kind. With her father in the Royal Marines, Lesley spent three years alone before her father remarried and Lesley and her older brother were brought home again. They were joined by two other children who were later adopted by her father and stepmother, and a continuing stream of foster children.  

Life at home was difficult and, aged just 15, Lesley headed to London determined to forge a better life for herself. Naïve and innocent, yet always resourceful (a trait that has served her well all her life), she worked her way through many jobs before finding herself pregnant. Sent to a mother and baby home, she was determined to keep her son, before realising she couldn’t give him the life he deserved. Aged just six months, Lesley gave her beautiful son, Warren, up for adoption. She would look for him for the next 50 years.  

The pain of such profound loss haunted Lesley, and she threw herself headlong into the hedonistic world of the ‘swinging sixties’ sharing flats, working hard (promotional work, retail, Bunny Girl), and partying harder, often with East End gangsters and musicians. A short-lived first marriage, was followed by a second to John, a talented trumpeter who played with Dusty Springfield, Lulu and David Bowie (Lesley even inspired lines in Bowie’s A Couple of Kooks). As the 60s turned into the 70s, Lesley found a longed-for sense of home and the start of the decade saw the birth of their daughter, Lucy and a record deal for John. The future looked bright but then the house they lived in was sold – ironically to become a homeless shelter – and the family found themselves homeless. John lost his record deal and his mental health began to suffer. Times were desperate and John became increasingly unwell, until Lesley had no choice but to have him sectioned. They eventually parted.  

Alone once again, and with a small child to support, it was while hitch-hiking to a job interview that Lesley was to meet her third husband, Nigel. She moved to Bristol, had daughters Sammy and Jo and set up a gift shop. It was only then that she began to write and 

the rest, as they say, is history. 

Told with Lesley’s trademark warmth, wit and poignancy, The Long and Winding Road is the extraordinary story of a remarkable woman fighting against the odds to achieve her dreams, and finally winning. Follow @LesleyPearse on X, Visit penguin.co.uk/lesley-pearse

Review

If you have ever wondered where Lesley gets her inspiration for her writing and stories, then reading this should explain a few things. Experiences and memories grow into written tales that engage many readers. The good, the painful, the bad, the ugly and the moments of pure joy somewhere in the middle of all the chaos.

And it does seem quite chaotic at times, probably because there is a lot to tell the reader and not enough pages or time to fit it in. Equally it also seems as if the author has disassociated at a certain level, which makes it easier to deliver facts or her experiences at a factual level without letting them, herself and us be overwhelmed by the emotional impact of many difficult and traumatic events.

Aside from choosing what she hoped would be a safer more secure path for her child, Lesley is changed by the traumatic experience of having a child and giving them up. Simultaneously she also glosses over the tragedy of the loss of her mother, the abandonment by the father and other family members, and the neglect and abuse her new mother is responsible for. It's a miracle she didn't let it all break her.

I think her childhood forged coping mechanisms, lack of trust, and the lack of empathy and love is pivotal when it comes to creating meaningful and lasting relationships. Inadvertently creating patterns of chaos, self soothing behaviours and living alone surrounded by many others.

It's an incredibly open experience and certainly one her readers will enjoy.

Buy The Long and Winding Road at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Penguin Michael Joseph| pub date 29th February 2024 price £22.00 in hardback.