Princess of Poor Street

by Emma Blair

1st edition Sphere 1991 paperback, fine In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

1 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 1987

About the author

Iain Blair was born on 12 August 1942 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor and writer, married with the also writer Jane Blanchard. Initially he wrote plays for theatre and television, but later began to write novels. He started out writing suspense novels as Iain Blair, but after being unsuccessful with this genre, switched to writing popular historical romance fiction sagas. But according to his Web site, Iain Blair's publishers decided he'd sell far more books simply by being published as a woman because is a women's fiction genre. "I was given absolutely no choice in the matter. They'd decided on a sex change and even the name. So that was that. Emma I became and Emma I've stayed." His true identity remained a secret until 1998 when his novel Flower of Scotland was nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association Awards, which required him to admit to being the author. He passed away on 3 July 2011 in Torquay, Devon, England.

Reviews

[Fiona]

It was good, but not as great as her other books I have read.

[Mookie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleh. What a bummer. I'm always interested in these types of books, mainly for the descriptors of life in this time period. But no amount of good writing or interesting details will make up for the fact that an unlikable 'protagonist' will sink any good book. Vicky was an idiot who made idiotic choices, and everyone who loved her suffered for it. I mean, good lord, you lie for a man, go to prison for his crimes, he ditches you for another woman, and still you go back to him?? It's like she sought him out. No words. And Neil, poor Neil. The hell kinda complex did Emma Blair suffer through in order to create a perpetual tormentee like Neil? No good came from reading this book - I'm glad I treated it like a skim read. Just a wretched life lived by wretched people. The writing, as interesting as the details were, was fairly subpar as well. Not a lot of subtleties, here.

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[Jackie Thurston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually written by a man Iain Blair who wrote under the pen name Emma Blair
This is set in Scotland in GLasgow between 1930s and until the 1950's it is about a young girl named Vicky her hopes her struggle and taking blame for something she didn't do for love
Really can't put this one down

[Lazarous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Neil deserved a better End.

[Ageliki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book distressed me, and Ive never said that about one of Emma Blair's - an author who I adore, and who's storytelling is usually intense, with less focus on descriptive and more on leading dialogue - and who focuses usually on gritty, Glasgow life in the 19th century, full of trials and tribulations, but which usually comes good for the hero or heroine of the story.
That wasn't the case in The Princess Of Poor Street. My heart truly went out to the character of Neil Seton, who did nothing but good throughout the book, and who ceaselessly had horrific luck throughout his life, and nothing good ever came of it. He was plagued with severe acne as a child, then his father hung himself, then he lost his job at a prestigious solicitors, and then, he was kicked nearly to death in the back close of where he lived by one of his supposed best friends, Ken Blacklaws, rendering him impotent for the rest of his life; and which severely affected his marriage to the love of his life, Vicky - after all, what is love? To top it all off, he was then cuckolded, not once, but twice, by Ken Blacklaws with Vicky, and she then bore Blacklaws' child and passed it off as as some random bloke's, rather than the man whod nearly kicked such a good, yet unfortunate man, and furthermore her husband, to death. Neil Seton then went on to fight in World War 2 and win the Victoria Cross, and then become and MP for Glasgow Kelvinhaugh, but even then, his luck turned against him, when yet again, Ken Blacklaws', who over the course of the book had become basically a hypocritical mobster, a millionaire surrounded by thugs, proclaiming himself to be saviour of the Workers Union, yet taking it over with backhanders, blackmails and beatings - announced that Neil and Vicky's child was infact his; and the child hed loved, took in, cared and looked after for the greater part of a decade, was infact, a miniature version of the very devil whod tormented him throughout his whole life. Neil then hung himself in a train toilet, just outside of Crewe. What a distressing book and a sad tale.

On a lighter note, funniest quote from a book Ive read in a long time was from Vicky, describing her future husband Chris's current girlfriend, as someone with a stunning body, but what a shame about her face, it was the type to go well with a bag of chips.

[Shirley Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sort of story I like. Emma Blair writes well and brings the characters to life. It's a pity someone commented on the book and told me what happened at the end before I had finished though!