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Born into the slums of Lisson Grove, Dolly spoke like Eliza Doolittle when no-one was listening. With her, Lilian felt the bonds of mischief, gambling, madness and song.  As the sad lives of her ancestors sprawl and take root in her head, Lilian drinks endless brandy and cokes in the Brickmaker’s Arms. Pete – ex-burglar and dealer – brings her heroin, skunk and bags of pills and, united by a desire to lose consciousness on a regular basis, becomes her boyfriend. He tells her about the Somalis and Punjabis and their rival gangs, about the honour killings happening under their bridges and they watch as the prostitutes and pimps run the streets.  But addiction has a relentless appetite and Lilian soon realises that, just like the Adam Bonny, she is sinking and must, with her help of her ancestors, try to pull herself back.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49521117724945,"sku":"GOR006673531","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49663375114513,"sku":"GOR007499645","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1408835371.jpg?v=1750921771"},{"product_id":"blue-hour-book-lilian-pizzichini-9781408801222","title":"The Blue Hour","description":"Jean Rhys was an artist of brilliance and fury best known for her late literary masterpiece, \"Wide Sargasso Sea\". But she was also a woman in constant psychological turmoil, whose blazing talent rescued her time and time again from the abyss. Lilian Pizzichini follows Rhys from her girlhood in Dominica, through three failed marriages and five misunderstood books, up to her death in 1979. This is an unforgettable portrait of a woman whose writing was both her life and her lifeline.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49523639714065,"sku":"GOR001958178","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49558013509905,"sku":"GOR002092400","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53429705867537,"sku":"GOR003702282","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1408801221.jpg?v=1751271944"},{"product_id":"dead-men-s-wages-book-lilian-pizzichini-9780330484466","title":"Dead Men's Wages","description":"'Scratch the surface of any family and you will find stories of intrigue, abuse and illegitimacy. It is just that, because of the nature of my grandfather's business, our secrets are more sinister.' Lilian Pizzichini's grandfather was a conman who worked with some of London's most notorious gangsters. Within the pages of this haunting and revealing account of his life, she re-creates, in vivid detail and with remarkable detachment, the world of criminals and corrupt policemen that he dominated until his death in 1978. This is a book to set the mind reeling with thoughts of cunning and intrigue, corruption, hardship and secrecy. Above all, it conveys beautifully the glamour and seduction of a London shrouded in mystery and this charismatic criminal who rose from its war-torn ashes.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49525429731601,"sku":"GOR002746518","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50303481741585,"sku":"CIN033048446XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51764620689681,"sku":"GOR005187953","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53476041163025,"sku":"GOR004060877","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/033048446X.jpg?v=1766052839"},{"product_id":"dead-men-s-wages-book-lilian-pizzichini-9781447271840","title":"Dead Men's Wages","description":"Scratch the surface of any family and you will find stories of intrigue, abuse and illegitimacy. It is just that, because of the nature of my grandfather's business, our secrets are more sinister'  Lilian Pizzichini's grandfather was a conman who worked with some of London's most notorious gangsters. Within the pages of this haunting and revealing account of his life, she re-creates, in vivid detail and with remarkable detachment, the world of criminals and corrupt policemen that he dominated until his death in 1978. This is a book to set the mind reeling with thoughts of cunning and intrigue, corruption, hardship and secrecy. Above all, it conveys beautifully the glamour and seduction of a London shrouded in mystery and this charismatic criminal who rose from its war-torn ashes.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49537263075601,"sku":"GOR008802777","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/144727184X.jpg?v=1751241940"},{"product_id":"novotny-papers-book-lilian-pizzichini-9781445697505","title":"The Novotny Papers","description":"It is almost impossible to summarise the extraordinary life of Mariella Novotny in a few paragraphs. In 1961 she was an underage hooker engaging in sexual relations with President John F. Kennedy, the most powerful man in the world. She was believed to be part of a vice ring set up by an alleged Communist agent who was also a well-known British film producer. FBI officers called their investigation 'The Bow-Tie Case'. Two years later the young 'Monroe lookalike' played a major part in another sex scandal with implications for national security: the Profumo Affair. Mariella was the hostess of the Man in the Mask party. She was a close friend of Stephen Ward, the osteopath and pander to high society, another putative whistle-blower who died in suspicious circumstances. In the late 1960s, she gave birth to Agent Zigzag's illegitimate child. Eddie Chapman was England's most successful wartime double agent. Between 1975 and 1978 she was working undercover for Operation Countryman, an investigation into police corruption in the Flying Squad. Her chief target was the author's grandfather, Charlie Taylor, a London conman who had high-ranking officers in his deep pockets. Mariella brought them all down. Mariella was found dead in her bed in February 1983. She was in the process of writing her memoirs - in her own words, 'It's dynamite!' Christine Keeler said, 'I think it was murder ... most probably by the CIA.' In the author's own words, 'This is a life that is bigger than the woman who led it. 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The Blue Hour performs a similar exhumation of Rhys's life, which was haunted by demons from within and without. 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But she was also a woman in constant psychological turmoil, never far from the edge, whose blazing talent rescued her time and time again from the abyss. In The Blue Hour, Lilian Pizzichini enters Rhys's twilit demimonde, starting with her dreamy girlhood in the lush island heat of Dominica and following her vagabond existence from chorus girl to artist's model in cold, inhospitable London, to abandoned wife and hapless mother in bohemian 1920s Paris, through three failed marriages and five misunderstood books to screaming drunk in suburban Beckenham, and finally to feted elderly author who considered her critical acclaim to have 'come too late'.  Rhys was made a CBE in 1978, the year before she died. 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As the sad lives of her ancestors sprawl and take root in her head, Lilian drinks endless brandy and cokes in the Brickmaker’s Arms. Pete – ex-burglar and dealer – brings her heroin, skunk and bags of pills and, united by a desire to lose consciousness on a regular basis, becomes her boyfriend. He tells her about the Somalis and Punjabis and their rival gangs, about the honour killings happening under their bridges and they watch as the prostitutes and pimps run the streets.  But addiction has a relentless appetite and Lilian soon realises that, just like the Adam Bonny, she is sinking and must, with her help of her ancestors, try to pull herself back.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49615064105233,"sku":"GOR005600564","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1408815990.jpg?v=1751370143"},{"product_id":"novotny-papers-book-lilian-pizzichini-9781398112407","title":"The Novotny Papers","description":"It is almost impossible to summarise the extraordinary life of Mariella Novotny in a few paragraphs. In 1961 she was an underage hooker engaging in sexual relations with President John F. Kennedy, the most powerful man in the world. She was believed to be part of a vice ring set up by an alleged Communist agent who was also a well-known British film producer. FBI officers called their investigation 'The Bow-Tie Case'. Two years later the young 'Monroe lookalike' played a major part in another sex scandal with implications for national security: the Profumo Affair. Mariella was the hostess of the Man in the Mask party. She was a close friend of Stephen Ward, the osteopath and pander to high society, another putative whistle-blower who died in suspicious circumstances. In the late 1960s, she gave birth to the illegitimate child of Eddie Chapman (Agent Zigzag), England's most successful wartime double agent. Between 1975 and 1978 she was working undercover for Operation Countryman, an investigation into police corruption in the Flying Squad. Her chief target was the author's grandfather, Charlie Taylor, a London conman who had high-ranking officers in his deep pockets. Mariella brought them all down.Mariella was found dead with her face in a bowl of milk pudding in February 1983. She was in the process of writing her memoirs - in her own words, 'It's dynamite!' 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