Hide Her Name: The Four Streets Trilogy

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This secret is so dangerous that her mother, Maura, and the redoubtable Kathleen, her best friend Nellie's grandmother, decide the girls must be spirited away quietly to Ireland to await the birth of the baby.

He would often wake Peggy in the middle of the night with the sound of his match striking through the dark, providing a split second of bright illumination. The language is all wrong. It sounds like the language of the god-awful TV series Mrs Brown's Boys more than anything you would hear in mid-20th century Liverpool and doesn't contain any of the humour that differentiates Scouse from other British dialects. A dialect that took from all those who passed through the city and created something unique. But that's far above Dorries expertise. In fact, Daisy missed Mrs Malone a great deal. She had always told Daisy what she could and could not do, and with no one to guide her, Daisy was lost. That was the bishop speaking. A fat man, distinguishable by his thin, weedy whine, which as it whistled into the air struggled past the blubbery folds of lard gathered under his chin. To speak of anything that occurs in this Priory would be the greatest sin for which no forgiveness would ever be forthcoming. Ye will be left to burn alone in the eternal flames of hell and damnation. Do ye understand, girl?'

The house seemed desolate after Dad left, which was just before Christmas. It was a very difficult time. There was a real stigma to me being the child of divorced parents too. I think children from broken homes do suffer in a deep way. Both John and I were changed by the experience. My parents divorced when I was in my early teens. I remember sitting with my brother John, who was three years younger, on the sofa, both crying when we were told what was happening. You have simple ways, but they can be put to good use if you can be protected from the sin that preys upon girls like yourself,' the sisters had told her. Daisy had no idea which sin would prey upon her or what it would do, but she was grateful for the protection.

I don't know how I would manage without you, Daisy,' she said, at least once a day. 'The sisters may have said you were simple in the head, but I didn't want you for brains, brawn was what I was looking for and you have plenty of that.' This is a powerful novel which challenges the emotions of its reader; feelings of anger, sadness, joy' She had arrived in Liverpool from Dublin to take her position at the Priory whilst still a child. She became an assistant to the fathers' cook, Mrs Malone, and like most young girls she had a head full of dreams and plans.I am sure she did, but she is bound to be very upset indeed and may be prone to rambling. We must be careful to protect her, as she has no family of her own, except for us. I wonder if a spell in the peace and quiet of the convent might be a good idea?' Daisy smiled with pleasure. Being told that she was simple was not news to her, sure, she had heard it so often before. But the sisters had also said, 'You can hold your head up with no shame, you were born to a very good family, Daisy Quinn.' Daisy knew she should tell someone what she had seen. But Daisy wasn't allowed to tell anyone anything. They were always wanting something and, sure enough, Father James could often solve the problem. They had cupboards in the Priory stuffed full of the clothes people donated for him to hand out to the poor.

Aye, we are that, but anyway, she is simple. No one would ever believe a word she said. I will write now that she is happy and improved. That she is running the show and, sure, isn't that the truth? Wasn't that just the grandest bit of rabbit pie we ever ate for supper?' When the bell pull rang, Daisy almost fell down the stairs as she ran to open the Priory door for Sister Evangelista. She had been unhappy sleeping in the huge house on her own since the murder. Today she would beg Sister Evangelista to take her to the convent right away. She would be safe there, just as she had been at the orphanage. The only reason he and Maura have two sets of twins is because he's a dirty bugger and does it twice a night. I'll not have him shouting such filth down the entry, now tell him, will ye, Paddy?' Family is everything to me. I feel the four of us are unbreakable as a unit. I can’t wait to be a grandmother. You must work hard and help Mrs Malone in the kitchen,' the sisters at the orphanage had told her. And, sure enough, working hard was what she had done every day since.You will have one day and one night off per month,' he told her, within moments of her being summoned to his study.