Of Woman Born

For thirty years, the O’Donnels have ruled the East End, but there’s a price to pay for this power, and it’s usually in blood.

TOTALLY COMPELLING, THE THIRD NOVEL IN GILDA'S O'NEILL'S STARTLINGLY VIVID, BREATHTAKINGLY MENACING EAST END TRILOGY

Gilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End and continued to live and write there with her husband and family. She left school at fifteen but returned to education as a mature student. She is the author of eleven novels. She has also had six non-fiction books published including the highly-acclaimed Sunday Times bestsellers, My East End and Our Street. Sadly she died on 24 September 2010 after a short illness.

Her father tore the family apart. And now she is desperate to break the bonds of fate 
 
For Lisa O'Donnell, the past is a dangerous place. Born into a world dominated by her father's notorious reputation, even her name marks her out. But Lisa's determined to make a new life for herself and so, adopting a false identity, she takes a respectable job in the city. 
 
But Jason Carter, the man who seems to offer a way out of her past, has dark secrets to hide. And, through him, Lisa is drawn into the shady clubs of the East End. Soon she's back where she started: living in the shadow of her gangster father, and trapped by his deadliest enemies...

an emotional and enthralling saga set in the Swinging Sixties from bestselling author Gilda O’Neill

Playing Around

London in the 1960s, and the city is swinging - what could be more exciting than being eighteen? But there is a dark side to Soho. . .

Angie is eighteen years old, and, with the help of a mini skirt, a pair of false eyelashes and a tube of pale pink lipstick, has made herself into a beauty. She's living in London in the Swinging Sixties, and knows she's in the best city in the world at the best possible time. She's got that world at her pretty, white-booted feet as she dances the night away with every handsome bloke on the booming, strobe-lit floor of the Canvas Club. She's heard all the scare stories of course, about what drink, drugs and discotheques can do to young girls, but Angie knows she's different. After all, she's only playing around. But that was before that rainy night, when Angie got into the big, shiny car, leaving her friend Jackie in Soho to find her own way home. . .

a dramatic saga of how an innocent young girl finds herself entangled in the 1960s East End underworld from bestselling author Gilda O’Neill

Getting There

From the author of the bestselling My East End comes a dramatic 1960s saga of a young girl's encounter with London's underworld.

This gripping East End saga, set in the 1960s, is perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Donna Douglas. Bestselling author Gilda O'Neill expertly combines page-turning drama with vivid characterisation - the perfect dose of escapism... 
 
Praise for Gilda O'Neill 
'A sharp eye, a warm heart and a gift for storytelling' -- Elizabeth Buchan 
'This novel has everything...a cracking read' -- Martina Cole 
'I just couldn't stop turning the pages' - 5 STARS 
'Great book with great characters - defiantly recommended' - 5 STARS 
'A cracking read' - 5 STARS 
'I couldn't put it down' - 5 STARS 
'A real page turner' - 5 STARS 
 
********************************************************************************************** 
NOT ALL RELATIONSHIPS LEAD TO GOOD THINGS - WILL SHE BE ABLE TO FIND HER WAY THROUGH? 
 
What's a nice girl like Lorna Wright doing with an East End bad boy like Richie Clayton? 
 
The world is changing and London is swinging: it's the 1960s. But in the East End the docks are closing and life will never be the same. 
 
Lorna Wright is a nice girl, but Richie Clayton is bad news: a violent thug who will stop at nothing to climb his way to the top of the East End underworld. The more Lorna gets mixed up in his ugly, brutal world, the more she finds herself in trouble too. 
 
There are plenty of people who'd like to see Richie stopped. So when, after a terrible row with Lorna, Richie is found murdered, the finger of accusation points in all sorts of directions...

Gilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End.  She has written eight novels and two non-fiction books.  She lives in Essex and Spitalfields.

a spellbinding saga about life in the East End during the Second World War from the bestselling author Gilda O’Neill

Secrets of the Heart

The second novel in the spellbinding new series about life in the East End during the Second World War from the bestselling author of My East End.

Gilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End and continued to live and write there with her husband and family. She left school at fifteen but returned to education as a mature student. Secrets of the Heart is her eleventh novel. She has also had six non-fiction books published including the highly-acclaimed Sunday Times bestsellers, My East End and Our Street. Sadly she died on 24 September 2010 after a short illness.

They believed it would never happen again. They hoped it would be over by Christmas... 
 
Britain is at war and the proximity of the docks means that life in and around London's Turnbury Buildings is hard and dangerous. Chances are taken, people have secrets, hearts are broken. And feelings about foreigners are running high. 
 
Sixteen-year-old Freddie Jarrett is secretly seeing a girl from the local Chinese community - a relationship that would be frowned on by both families, despite the fact that they all support the fight for freedom from oppression. And his sister Grace has her own secret to hide. A secret that no one outside the immediate family must ever know. 
 
As the threat of the Luftwaffe looms over the docks, the community is threatened with being torn apart by prejudice, fear and separation, and the disturbing loss of stability that brings with it the feeling that it is only what happens today that counts for anything...

a compelling saga about life in the East End during the Second World War from the bestselling author Gilda O’Neill

Rough Justice

A compelling new series about life in the East End during the Second World War from the bestselling author of My East End and Our Street

Perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Donna Douglas, Rough Justice is captivating, moving and enthralling novel about the lives, loves and losses, the fears, hopes and desires, the failures and triumphs of the families who live and work in a Victorian tenement in the East End. You won't be able to put it down... 
 
'If you enjoy a good saga, Rough Justice is a strong beginning to a promising series' -- First magazine 
'I was totally gripped with this book right through to the end' -- ***** Reader review 
'Brilliant story, good characters and a pleasure to read from beginning to end' -- ***** Reader review 
'An amazing read' -- ***** Reader review 
'Fabulous story. Tragic and humorous. Couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. Caused too many late nights trying to find out!' -- ***** Reader review 
***************************************************************************************** 
AS LIFE BECOMES UNSTABLE ACROSS EUROPE, THINGS ARE ALSO FAR FROM PERFECT AT HOME... 
 
The Flanagans, the Tanners and the Lovells all live on the top floor of the Turnbury Buildings - a crumbling Victorian tenement in the heart of London's East End. 
 
Nell Flanagan is a decent, hardworking woman, married to Stephen, a tough, heavy-drinking brute of a man. She has always hidden the abuse she has suffered at his hands from her young children, although most of the neighbours realise what's going on. 
 
The Tanners think she must be asking for it, but Martin Lovell has always admired Nell. When he sees Stephen actually attacking Nell, he can stand back no longer, but his actions have repercussions for all the families...

If you enjoy a good saga, Rough Justice is a strong beginning to a promising series

Gilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End and continued to live and write there with her husband and family. She left school at fifteen but returned to education as a mature student. Rough Justice is her tenth novel. She has also had six non-fiction books published including the highly-acclaimed Sunday Times bestsellers, My East End and Our Street. Sadly she died on 24 September 2010 after a short illness.

Memories of a Vanished Way of Life

Lost Voices

A vivid portrayal of the life of the thousands of East Londoners who worked in the hopfields of Kent during the 1940s, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of My East End

The stories are atmospheric, but it is O'Neill's open-minded examination of her own position in relation to the women, the history and the writing that makes this book a work of art

Gilda O'Neill has brought to life a time when women relished simple pleasures and the close friendships formed while working alongside one another each summer

The (pearly) queen of East End memoirists

Gilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End and continued to live and write there with her husband and family. She left school at fifteen but returned to education as a mature student. She is the author of eleven novels. She has also had six non-fiction books published including the highly-acclaimed Sunday Times bestsellers, My East End: A History of Cockney London and Our Street: The East End at War. Sadly she died on 24 September 2010 after a short illness.

In the 1940s, nearly a quarter of a million East Londoners decamped annually for the hopfields of Kent. Most of the pickers were women, who would take their children and other dependent relatives to stay in the hoppers' huts on the farms. 
 
This book records the memories of some of them, in their own lively words. Funny, nostalgic and ironic by turns, they tell of hopping as 'a break from him', an escape from the chesty London smog, respite from the bombs of war, as well as a source of income - and the nearest thing to a holiday that adults or children were likely to get. It was a time of hard graft, of laughter and companionship and long evenings around the faggot fire. In the memories of those who were there, it was a time when the sun always shone ... 
 
Gilda O'Neill was herself a hop picker as a girl. In this vivid book she not only pays tribute to the creative genius of the working class of London's East End, but examines the role of memory and oral history in our understanding of the past.

Gilda O'Neill

The East End belongs to the O'Donnells. Tough, violent and proud, Gabriel O'Donnell has fought his way up from poor Irish roots to run the gambling, prostitution and protection empire that makes him rich, and that one day his boys, Brendan and Luke, will take over. 
 
It's not easy to love a man when violent crime is his career, as Eileen O'Donnell knows, so she's invested everything in her children: icy cool Brendan; Luke, who hates the horror of gang warfare; irrepressible Catherine with her verve for life; and Patricia, married to a man whose brainless viciousness is close to madness. 
 
Then Kessler turns up. An enemy from the old days, he's got plans to move in on Gabe O'Donnell's turf. But Gabe swears he will see him burn in hell before that happens, no matter how much blood gets spilt. It's that obsession which leads to a tragedy that changes all their lives... 
 
A spellbinding novel of the sixties underworld, full of menace and darkness, The Sins of Their Fathers will grip you to the end as two families are locked in a ruthless struggle of money, love and pride, determined to win no matter what the cost.

Gilda O'Neill

The Sins Of Their Fathers

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

More books from this author