Lime street blues

'Sadie stopped washing the dishes to listen to the sound of her children singing in the distance, accompanied by the faint strum of a guitar. "What a voice our Rita's got," she marvelled. "I never realised it was quite so powerful. If only their dad was here, he'd be desperately proud." ' It is the heady sixties and Liverpool is the place to be. The Flowers, the Baileys and the McDowds are three very different Liverpool families bound together by just one thing: music. The children are determined to be part of the glamour that surrounds Liverpool so, when Sean, Lachlan and Max form The Merseysiders and Jeannie and Rita become part of The Flower Girls, they put their hearts and souls into their performances and achieve success beyond their wildest dreams. The greatest star of all is Sean McDowd, adored by women everywhere, yet unable to get his first love out of his mind. But Jeannie Flowers has married Lachlan and no-one is prepared for the deceits and betrayals that lie ahead. This wonderful novel spans forty years, recalling a magic and dangerous time, and is full of the tenderness, perception and drama we have come to expect from Maureen Lee.