Lime Street Blues (50 page)

BOOK: Lime Street Blues

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I didn’t 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 you’re 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 Maureen’s working at the United Nations in Geneva.’

‘If you leave this
house you’re 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 wasn’t 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 wouldn’t 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 Richard’s 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 don’t have to look further than your immediate neighbours to see how things really are and I try to reflect that in my books.

You don’t have to look
further than your
immediate neighbours to
see how things really are

Is there anything you’d change about your life?

I don’t feel nostalgic for my youth, but I do feel nostalgic for the years when I was a young mum. I didn’t anticipate how I’d feel when the boys left home. I just couldn’t believe they’d gone and I still miss them being around although I’m very happy that they’re 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?

Richard’s son from his first marriage recently got in touch with us. It was quite a shock as he’s been in Australia for most of his life and we’ve never known him. He turned out to be a charming person with a lovely family. I’ve 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 it’s 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 I’m stuck, we might drive to Sainsbury’s 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
.

Don’t miss Maureen’s 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 family’s tragedy.

£6.99

ISBN: 978-0-7528-9381-5

available from

THE ORION PUBLISHING GROUP