Mary Pickles moves from London to Brighton, a seaside town;
she's aged eight. By 1963 she and her best friend Dottie
are in work, at the cheap general store Woolworths. THE
GIRLS FROM SEE SAW LANE are growing up fast. Dottie Perks
is an ordinary girl, aiming no higher than to be a
plumber's wife, but Mary has dreams of Paris, study, art
and sophisticated boyfriends. The Beatles are their
favourite band, but two local lads catch their eyes.
This enjoyable book is filled with atmosphere; with chats
about the relative merits of work in a shop or the sack
factory, with tourists on the pier buying fish and chips,
candyfloss and Brighton rock, with vinyl singles and penny
sweets. Reading is like stepping back in time. A time when
the war years were over, young people looked forward to
travel and the world had become exciting. On the negative
side, business managers are male, and beauty contests seem
to be a girl's only way to fame. The loves and laughs of
the inseparable pals guide us through the changing seasons.
Mary is short but pretty; Dottie is plump and has asthma.
They stick together through family weddings and the
excitement of night clubs. But life being what it is, a
moment will come when one of them will break the
friendship.
The 1960s was perhaps when British teenagers were invented;
young people with mobility and money, who were not obliged
to go to war or marry early. Jobs had options outside
factories while entertainment, fashion and reading
materials targeted this new market. Sandy Taylor tells us
that Brighton in the 1960s was a wonderful place for her,
and she wanted to write a novel all about friendship set in
this place and time of her youth. To enter her world is to
hear the names of film stars, US presidents, singers and
holiday camps, all shiny and new. Experience this world for
yourself and hold your breath, as I did, when the fragile
friendship of THE GIRLS FROM SEE SAW LANE has to weather a
storm. A second book, COUNTING CHIMNEYS, is on the
way.
Brighton 1963. Mary Pickles and I walked along the street with our arms linked, looking in shop windows. We were best friends and together we were invincible.
Dottie and Mary forged a friendship over a bag of penny sweets when they were eight years old. They’ve shared everything together since then – the highs and lows of school, family dramas, hopes and dreams and now, at seventeen, they’re both shop girls, working at Woolworths.
As they go out in the world in pursuit of love and happiness, the simplicity of their childhood dissolves as life becomes more complicated. The heady excitement of first love will consume them both, but the pain of unintentional betrayal will test their friendship in ways neither of them could ever imagine…
A charming, heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting novel which brings a bygone era vividly to life. Fans of Nadine Dorries, Mary Gibson and Pam Weaver will love The Girls from See Saw Lane. Counting Chimneys coming soon.
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