The Fifteen Streets - Catherine Cookson

Life in the Fifteen Streets was tough – a continual struggle for survival. Some families gave up and descended into a dismal state of grinding poverty. Others, like the O’Briens – and especially John O’Brien – fought grimly for a world they were only rarely allowed to glimpse.

John O’Brien caught his ‘glimpse on the day he met Mary Llewellyn. Mary, with her slim body and soft brown hair; Mary, who lived well, had beautiful clothes – who worked because she wanted to, not because she had to…

When John O’Brien fell in love with Mary Llewellyn, he knew there was a gulf between them that nothing could bridge – it was the gulf of the Fifteen Streets.