A favourite with saga fans, Victor's novels have gained him an army of readers all over the world
Stumbling, dazed and bleeding, from the bombed wreckage of Barratts' Orphanage, Islington, sixteen-year-old Vicky Hobson can't even remember her name. The runaway evacuees who give her shelter call her Nellie, the only girl in 'Toff' Hecht's gang, until, yet again, tragedy strikes, and she is forced to move on. But when Nellie meets the great music hall illusionists, Monsieur and Madame Pierre - alias Bert and Doris Beckwith - her life begins again. In the magical world of bright lights and greasepaint she finds a wonderful new family. But even as she is happily stitching costumes backstage, Nellie can't stop thinking about her old life in the bombed-out rubble - and more particularly, about the restless young Jewish boy, 'Toff' Hecht...
Victor Pemberton was the well-loved author of fourteen novels set in London. His first novel Our Family began as a radio play he wrote of the same name inspired by his own upbringing. Victor was also a successful radio playwright and TV producer, who worked with some of the great names of entertainment, including Benny Hill and Dodie Smith. He had a longstanding correspondence with Stan Laurel and scripted and produced many of the BBC's 'Dr Who' series. He also worked as a producer for Jim Henson, and set up his own production company, whose first TV documentary won an Emmy Award. Victor Pemberton passed away in 2017.