What was it like being young in Liverpool in the 1950s?
The late fifties were a wonderful time for my friends and me. We had so many places to go: numerous dance halls, The Philharmonic Hall, The Cavern Club, theatres, including The Playhouse where you could buy tickets for ninepence.
We were crushed together on benches at the very back. As a teenager I loved the theatre I was in a dramatic society. I also used to make my own clothes, which meant I could have the latest fashions in just the right sizes, which I loved. Sometimes wed go on boat trips across the water to New Brighton or on the train to Southport. Wed go for the day and visit the fairground and then go to the dance hall in the evening.
We clicked instantly
and got engaged two
weeks later
I met Richard at a dance when he asked my friend Margaret up. When she came back she said Oh, he was nice. And then somebody else asked her to dance
she was very glamorous, with blonde hair still is, as it happens. So Richard asked me to dance because she had gone! We clicked instantly and got engaged two weeks later. Im not impulsive generally, but I just knew that he was the one.
Do you consider yourself independent and adventurous like Annemarie in The Leaving of Liverpool or Kitty in Kitty and her Sisters?
In some ways. In the late fifties, when I was 16, Margaret and I hitchhiked to the Continent. It was really, really exciting. We got a lift from London to Dover on the back of a lorry. We sat on top of stacks of beer crates we didnt half get cold! We ended up sleeping on the side of the road in Calais because we hadnt found a hotel. We travelled on to Switzerland and got jobs in the United Nations in Geneva as secretaries. It was a great way to see the world. Ive no idea what inspired us to go. I think we just wanted some adventure, like lots of my heroines.
Your books often look at the difficult side of family relationships. What experiences do you draw on when you write about that?
I didnt always find it easy to get on with my mother because she held very rigid views. She was terribly ashamed when I went to Europe. She said If you leave this house youre not coming back! But when we got to Switzerland we got fantastic wages at the United Nations about four times as much as we got at home. When I wrote and told her she suddenly forgave me and went around telling everybody, Our Maureens working at the United Nations in Geneva.
If you this
house youre not
coming back!
She was very much the kind of woman who worried what the neighbours would think. When we moved to Kirby, our neighbours were a bit posher than us and at first she even hung our curtains round the wrong way, so it was the neighbours who would see the pattern and we just had the inside to look at. It seems unbelievable now, but it wasnt unusual then my mother-in-law was even worse. When she bought a new three-piece she covered every bit of it with odd bits of curtaining so it wouldnt wear out it looked horrible.
My mother-in-law was a strange woman. She hated the world and everyone in it.
We had a wary sort of relationship. She gave Richards brother an awful life
she was very controlling and he never left home. She died in the early nineties and for the next few years my kind, gentle brother-in-law had a relationship with a wonderful woman who ran an animal sanctuary. People tend to keep their family problems private but you dont have to look further than your immediate neighbours to see how things really are and I try to reflect that in my books.
You dont have to look
further than your
immediate neighbours to
see how things really are
Is there anything youd change about your life?
I dont feel nostalgic for my youth, but I do feel nostalgic for the years when I was a young mum. I didnt anticipate how Id feel when the boys left home. I just couldnt believe theyd gone and I still miss them being around although Im very happy that theyre happy.
Are friendships important to you?
Vastly important. I always stay with Margaret when I visit Liverpool and we email each other two or three times a week. Old friends are the best sort as you have shared with them the ups and downs of your life. I have other friends in Liverpool that I have known all my adult life. I have also made many new ones who send me things that they think will be useful when I write my books.
Have you ever shared an experience with one of your characters?
Richards son from his first marriage recently got in touch with us. It was quite a shock as hes been in Australia for most of his life and weve never known him. He turned out to be a charming person with a lovely family. Ive written about long-lost family members returning in Kitty and Her Sisters and The Leaving of Liverpool so it was strange for me to find my life reflecting the plot of one of my books.
Describe an average writing day for you.
Wake up, Richard brings me tea in bed and I watch breakfast television for a bit. Go downstairs at around 8 a.m. with the intention of doing housework. Sit and argue with Richard about politics until its midday and time to go to my shed and start writing. Come in from time to time to make drinks and do the crossword. If Im stuck, we might drive to Sainsburys for a coffee and read all the newspapers we refuse to have in the house. Back in my shed, I stay till about half seven and return to the house in time to see EastEnders.
Dont miss Maureens bestselling novels:
Stepping Stones
Lights Out Liverpool
Put Out the Fires
Through the Storm
Liverpool Annie
Dancing in the Dark
The Girl from Barefoot House
Laceys of Liverpool
The House by Princes Park
Lime Street Blues
Queen of the Mersey
The Old House on the Corner
The September Girls
Kitty and Her Sisters
The Leaving of Liverpool
Mother of Pearl
1939. Amy was just eighteen when she met Barney and they fell deeply in love.
Their romantic, passionate marriage was a match made in heaven and then war came. Barney volunteered to fight, and when he returned to Liverpool after VE
Day, everything began to change. But what was it that made Amy kill her adored husband and what happened to their five-year-old daughter, Pearl?
1971. Amy has been released from prison. But her freedom changes the lives of everyone not least Pearl. Now twenty-five, she was brought up in a very happy home by her aunt, and has no idea of the terrible secret hidden in her past. As the truth unravels, both Amy and Pearl are caught up in the shocking fall-out of one familys tragedy.
Ł6.99
ISBN: 978-0-7528-9381-5
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Stepping StonesŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-1726-2
The House by Princes ParkŁ5.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-4835-8
Lights Out LiverpoolŁ5.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-0402-6
Lime Street BluesŁ5.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-4961-4
Put Out the FiresŁ5.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-2759-9
Queen of the MerseyŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-5891-3
Through the Storm Ł6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-1628-9
The Old House on the CornerŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-6575-1
Liverpool AnnieŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-1698-2
The September GirlsŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-6532-4
Dancing in the Dark Ł5.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-3443-6
Kitty and her SistersŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-7818-8
The Girl from Barefoot House Ł6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-3714-7
The Leaving of LiverpoolŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-8192-8
Laceys of LiverpoolŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-4403-9
Mother of PearlŁ6.99
Maureen Lee
978-0-7528-9381-5
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