This is the start of a lovely new trilogy with a strong sense of time and place, a 60’s seaside resort in the Isle of Sheppey, and realistic drama with plenty of incidents.  It’s a tale of working-class heroes, East End villains and a young heroine who has to grow up in a hurry.  The author is fascinating too – she is an eminent psychic and the investigator and ghost-hunter on ITV’s Haunted Homes.

Comparison: Janet Wood, Lynda Page, Lilian Harry.

Synopsis

Growing up in a small seaside town, Marcie Brooks dreams of owning a Mary Quant mini-skirt, the Beatles, and escape. Instead she’s stuck in a dead-end job selling candy floss to tourists and with a crazy family. Her grandmother sees ghosts, her step-mother is unable to control her growing family and Marcie’s father is usually in and out of prison or away ‘working’ for East End gangsters.

Despite it all, Marcie adores her father, but Tony’s light fingers and hard man reputation mean most people give the Brooks family a wide birth. Sometimes Marcie even wishes she had a respectable dad like her friend Rita; well-groomed, wealthy by local standards and surprisingly attentive to a teenage girl. But when she discovers Tony may have had something to do with her real mother’s death, Marcie finds her friend’s father is more than just a shoulder to cry on…

About the Author

Mia Dolan is one of the UK's most eminent and extraordinary psychics whose work has taken her from private readings to ‘ghostbusting’ to psychic demonstrations in front of hundreds of people. Her abilities have made her one of the most sought-after psychics in the country. She is now the psychic investigator and ghost-buster on ITV's HAUNTED HOMES. She also recently won the paranormal edition of THE WEAKEST LINK. She was born and still lives on the island of Sheppey, off the Kentish Coast, where her first novel is set. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation