The Four Streets

The Four Streets Saga #1

by Nadine Dorries

1950s In the tight-knit Irish Catholic community of the Four Streets, two girls are growing up. One is motherless—and hated by the cold woman who is determined to take her dead mother's place. The other is hiding a dreadful secret which she dare not let slip to anyone, lest it rips the heart out of the community. What can the people of the Four Streets do when a betrayal at the very heart of their world comes to light?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Audiobook, Drama, British Literature, 20th Century

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2014

About the author

Nadine Dorries was born in Liverpool in the 1950s and raised on a council estate, the daughter of a bus driver. Her first novel, THE FOUR STREETS, was inspired by memories of her childhood, particularly her Irish grandmother who she was very close to.

Nadine trained as a nurse, then followed with a successful career in which she established and then sold her own business. She has been the MP for Mid-Befordshire since 2005 and has three daughters.

Nadine is currently working on her second novel, a sequel to THE FOUR STREETS.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aaaaargh! Why is there no zero star option. This book was so bad I felt like my eyes were going to bleed. Clichés abound, the supernatural element does not fit and if Dorres comes from an Irish background then I hope that ghosts of her ancestors are haunting her for this intolerable drivel. Worst bit (oh so many to choose from) - "He took the bottle out of her hand, and placed it on the draining board. Jerry was an Irishman. He might have been about to have sex for the first time in almost two years, he might have been angry and have lost all reason, but he wasn't going to spill the Guinness." It's so bad it's almost parody. Never again will I read anything else by this "author".

[Rory Stanbridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by Nadine Dorries who most people in the UK will know as a somewhat controversial MP. Nadine divides opinion and I am fairly sure that this book will do the same. It is the first part of a trilogy, the second part being issued in December 2014. I thought it was the best book I have read this year, whereas the literary critic in the Telegraph thought it was the worst book he had read in ten years. Perhaps I am being cynical but I think that might be due to his political opinions. The story revolves around Liverpool in the early 1950's and the arrival of Irish immigrants. It is the story of a close knit community, their trials and tribulations and loves. It has a very dark side to which some Catholics, of which I am one although now lapsed, may take great offence. However I took none and I have no doubt that the storyline is very close to real life and indeed the church has many skeletons in its closet. It is a very powerful emotional and atmospheric story and one that gripped me from start to finish. I have already told Nadine on Twitter what I thought and she was kind enough to respond and thank me. I thought it was brilliantly written and draws some magical pictures for the reader. You may think otherwise but I guarantee that you will not be unmoved by the rigours of life on the Liverpool docks back then. Superb.

[Babus Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a historical fiction book about life in the 1950s for Irish Catholic immigrants in Liverpool. This compelling read follows the lives of two families in particular who are resident on one of the four streets. The men work on the docks for a pittance and the women stay home, bear children and try to stretch the household budget to fill the bellies of their growing families. The lives described also include the themes of postnatal maternal death, personality disorder, child sexual abuse and neglect. There's also a smidgen of the paranormal through this community saga.

When I chose this book to read I was oblivious to the fact it is written by Nadine Dorries, an MP known for taking part in some reality show I never watch, which was just as well as I was not influenced by the authors previous fame and did genuinely find the book engaging. The setting was well described and the hardships palpable. Dorries creates characters you learn to love and hate. The tragedy, laughter, spirit of community and religion are well depicted throughout the novel.

For the time in which this book was set the attitudes and lack of social services to deal with certain issues within a closed community seemed to fit. I was not convinced that Alice's personality disorder could be so easily dealt with but her becoming part of the community was heartening to read. The book dealt with some difficult issues but what kept me reading and interested was the humanity and kinship Dorries describes in this impoverished community.

A warm but difficult read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Pol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fanastic book could not stop reading it. so glad it a trilogy. I.m going to read 2nd one now. Want to know what happens to all the people on four streets.

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of ‘The Four Streets’ via Goodreads – First Reads and Head of Zeus, publishing.

I would like to express that I hold no particular political opinion and I have never viewed ‘I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here’. I had no prior knowledge about the author. My knowledge of the author was gained after I read the book and as I went in search of other reviews, wishing to compare my views of the book with others.
It was in so doing that I came across a large number of 5* review ratings and had started to question my judgement. I acknowledge opinions differ and as a relative of mine used to say “Different Strokes for Different Folks!” however I couldn’t help thinking, had I read the same book? Quotes such as “unable to put down”, “brilliant from start to finish”, “if this isn’t a best seller I’ll eat my hat” and “riveting read” to name but a few. Alas I do not share these views.

This type of book is usually my genre of choice – I am a child of the 1950’s and raised in a Roman Catholic household.

The story was slow to start, I was initially ‘put off’ by the first sentence which reminded me of a line from a song, which kept ruminating in my head. The plot gradually improved, however the majority of the characters were not particularly endearing. In my opinion the book lacked depth and was not well constructed.

In the books’ defence the author depicts life of the struggling working classes in the 1950’s very well and a number of emotive issues are covered. I will not go into further details fearing I may spoil the reading experience.

For me a good book is one that takes me to another place in which I am totally absorbed – ‘The Four Street’ did not do that for me.

This review honestly reflects my opinion on this book.

I understand that there is to be a ‘follow up’ book – well needless to say I will not be returning to these streets!

[Shui · Rating 1 out of 5]

I learned from this book to never trust amazon reviews! Obviously l should have read the goodreads reviews before making my purchase but l wanted something easy to read over the holiday period and this book seemed like a winner based on those Amazon reviews. Trashily written, l don't doubt it broaches some important subjects and recounts a worthy historical period for Liverpool. If only l had read the goodreads reviewer who described this as "poverty porn" beforehand. This is a perfect description of this book. Not worthy. I mean that Jodie Picault makes a mint out of fiction based on important topics but at least the way she writes isn't as Mills and Boonish as this book proved to be. Not recommended!

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started off well and thought it was going to be a nice book about a community pulling together, it ended up making me feel sick and I didn't enjoy it at all, it was very graphic, poorly written with a ghost character thrown in just to make it that little less believable. I really wanted to like this book but it just didn't happen :(

[♕ ❤ ♕ Princess pink diamonds posh bird LINZY.x.♕ ❤ ♕ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Four streets is about tight knit Irish, Catholic, communities in Liverpool. These four streets stuck together through thick and thin, shared what they had, and most of all were there for each other. A cup of tea and a chat could make things seem that bit better.

I don't really want to give anything away about this book, other than saying the Priests are not all pure JUST COS THEY HAVE RELIGION and sit in a confession box.

Thank you Nadine, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I'm now reading your second book 'HIDE HER NAME', the second book in this trilogy which I will review when I'm finished.

Princess.x

[Kylie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a bit slow at the start and I was about to give up on it but then the story got going and the characters developed. Soon I was engrossed in this tale of an Irish community living in a poor part of Liverpool. It is set in the 1960's and life was hard, money scarce but the community spirit is thriving. There are some quite dark parts to this story, but they are not sensationalised and help paint a picture of a hard life. At some point I became engrossed and was disappointed to find this left on a bit of a cliffhanger.

[Brigid Maiden · Rating 2 out of 5]

though the setting and day to day lives of the characters was very interesting,
the inclusion of at least three very separate and very serious issues confused the whole novel.
by throwing in so many deep issues, then exploring none of them, the book end up very unfulfilling.
I wasn't surprised to see it was not published by a proper publishing house.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure about this book since it had fair mix of good and bad reviews. However, despite what I thought was going to be a nice hearty read on community turned into something much, much darker to the point I actually found a few scenes to be very graphic and very disturbing . The book centres around a close knit Irish community living by the Liverpool Docks in the 1950's. The book touches on many topics; community spirit, love, poverty, marriage, religion, maternal death, paranormal, mental health issues, child abuse and paedophilia and murder which is why many of you who've already read this or want to will understand why I use the words graphic and disturbing.

Whilst I feel many of the issues outlined in this story are maybe not as written, portrayed and researched as well as they could of been I do feel the overall story was nowhere near as bad as some of the reviews. I personally warmed to most of the characters, even Alice as her issues in life were pretty hard for a woman in the 50's to deal with. This book is not for the feint hearted and I will definitely be reading the other 2 in the series.

[Lizzi]

Absolutely awful.
Plot line is superficial and not complex, there's no character depth, it's poorly researched and has too much going on. and its an over stereotyped view of the location at the time. Not only is the story line jumpy, the sentence structure is awful and the vocabulary is misjudged in many places.

This review sums up the book excellently:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...

[Jo]

I can't even bring myself to give this book even one star. Basically it's poverty porn, has virtually no dialogue and the characters and setting extoll a sort of mindless rhetoric that seeks to boil down the working classes into a one dimensional homogeneous mass. Characterisation is shoddy, descriptive language is lacking and the fact that this book is currently cheap in the Kindle store is NO excuse for owning or reading this variety of tosh.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A heartbreaking book about poverty stricken living in Liverpool for an Irish-Catholic immigrant family where family meant everything to them. I really enjoyed this book its very descriptive and moving.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tough book to read because of the storyline, but I became so wrapped up in the lives of the different families that I felt I knew them all and was living alongside them.

[Donny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Set in Liverpool in 1950s, the story revolves around four streets that are home to an Irish Catholic immigrant community. It's a story of love and survival.

[LINDA HADDOCK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four streets

A book full of love, closeness, also betrayal by a priest. An Irish community living in poverty,but stick together through thick and thin, through marriage, early death, working in the docks. A community which works together , with love and support for each other. Very good book. Looking forward to reading the next in the series.

[Crystal Reaume · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drama, drama, drama.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart warming with a dash of heartbreak. Losing a mother at birth can't be easy and the family is left to deal with the aftermath. Amazing how people can come together in a crisis. Looking forward to the second in this trilogy

[LukasmummyReads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I really enjoyed all 4 books in the authors Lovely Lane series and was hoping since this seemed to be set in the same time period it would be similar.

I'll start with the positives but there are only a few. I seem to have picked up quite a few books set in the 40s and 50s lately, as someone who couldn't even tell you whether they live next to a single person or a family, it's intriguing to read about such strong bonds within and community and to see how they all pull together and help each other out. As a peek into a different time and culture this book ticks all the boxes. Unfortunately here is where it all starts to fall apart.

The first problem is the time frame, it's not clear how long of a time period this book is supposed to cover. There is a 2 year time period from the point where we are introduced to Alice's character and when her role in the story really starts. But then that's followed by a mention of the child being in nappies to jumping to mentions of school. There is no clear indication of the differences in ages between Kitty and Nellie, but it's mentioned near the end that Kitty is 14 and they appear to both be caring for the other kids. There are no mentions of any big events like birthdays or Christmas to help explain.

This book was released before the Lovely Lane series and even knowing that it's jarring to see character names you have seen mentioned in the other books but with different personalities and stories and whether the characters names being the same is intentional or not, did the author change her mind about the characters stories or is it just coincidence she used the same names? In fairness it does seem like even in the Lovely Lane series the author just doesn't have a great idea of who she wants her characters to be. A good example of my point is Nurse Antrobus, we are introduced to her briefly midway through the book, when she smacks a panicking child and uses a fairly rude phrase "bogjumper" to describe her because her family is Irish. In the Lovely Lane books, Sister Antrobus features at some point in all 4 books. Pink uniforms are described in this book but it's not clear if she is wearing one or not, but assuming that since this book description says 1950s and the first Lovely Lane book says 1953 it's a little bit hard to credit her going from unprofessional potential probationer nurse to sister that everyone is terrified of in 3 years. But it would be easier to overlook this if not for Maura and Tommy. In this book they apparently have 7 children, but in the Lovely Lane book 4 the characters with the same name appear to have 4 and they seem to be a lot younger.

But for me, the biggest problem comes down to the writing itself. Not trying to spoil anything but having a ghost character, without really exploiting the angle seems like a waste. I'm not religious but I could understand a character based in the superstitions of a religious community, even just the feeling that the person they love hasn't really left them, but instead we seem to have almost a cartoon character with no substance. The character is described at the beginning as being someone people couldn't help loving yet somehow this lingering spirit doesn't radiate love or compassion just gets thrown in when the author feels like it with no real consistency or reason to do it. She's not really the only character who doesn't seem like they need to be included or at least would have been better included in a different way.

You can almost excuse the fairly graphic descriptions in Lovely Lane, it's set in a hospital and community in the 1950s around a community that still faces things including signs saying No Irish, you don't go into it expecting to read about unicorns and rainbows. But this book, is about life in a community, I expected harsh realities and even some things that made me uncomfortable, but I wasn't prepared for graphic descriptions of abuse that made me wonder how any child made it through the 1950s. I can't help thinking that if the author favoured graphic details so much they might have been better used describing the punishment rather than the crime. This is not a book for anyone with young children, especially not the audiobook, and it left me with tears on my face and a slight lingering degree of paranoia about ever trusting anyone to be alone with my kids. As much as I would like to know how the story continues in the other 2 books in the series, I don't feel like it's something I can tackle any time soon.

[Patricia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This review contains a spoiler, but it is also a warning.

Because of my own family heritage, I enjoy and seek out books set in working-class Liverpool. That is how I discovered The Four Streets. I have not read any other of Nadine Dorries' works, and I had no idea what to expect with this one.

On the positive side: the book's cover is really sweet. Also, Ms. Dorries' writing style is easy and non-pretentious, though mostly narrative, with minimal dialogue. The story grabbed me immediately, and I couldn't put the book down...

but then, about 1/3 of the way in, it happened...

The dreadful secret being kept by one of the girls in this story is that she is being sexually abused by her parish priest. While I know sexual exploitation by one's spiritual leaders did and still does occur, I can read all about in my own local newspaper. I don't want my leisure-time reading to be filled with that type of storyline, and I certainly don't want the description of said abuse to be graphic and prolonged, as it was in The Four Streets.

I didn't even finish the book, just skimmed through to the end. Since I had no idea sexual abuse of a child was involved in this story, I was surprised when I came to it. From that point on, I just skimmed, and much to my disappointment, there were other graphic descriptions of continued abuse. I just couldn't finish the book.

[Louraine Millington · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pedophile priest

Wow! This is a brave Author to tell a story that relates to the Pedophiles within the Catholic Church. That will occur further in the book. The earlier section is more related to the Irish Exodus to another country to find work. And how the Employees keep them with just enough money to survive from one pay to the next intentionally. And to think with was in the 1950’s. No wonder so many £10 pommies, Irish & Scots emigrated to Australia. The treatment of these people who struggle to survive was abominable. Shame on those who used these men who should have received compassion instead of racism. I can understand more now why the Irish hated the English so much and why the Irish warred against the English as long as the had. Bloody religion. Which makes those who used religion to be no better than Hitler himself. I don’t like to tell the story of the novel, that spoils it for the reader, I think is is more important to give your opinion on what is within the novel, and what it is you get out of it, or what you have learned from it. That’s all I have to say as I’m off to read the follow up from this novel as it is a good read, even if the circumstances within the story have some sadness or parts that make you angry of how life was in this era.

[Sue Corcoran · Rating 3 out of 5]

WARNING; MEGA SPOILERS BUT ALSO TRIGGER WARNINGS.

Books should always come with a trigger warning when they have strong themes of child sexual abuse and this book needs one.
As someone who grew up near Manchester and is now married to an Irishman, I did enjoy some cultural (yes I use the term loosely!) aspects of the novel and indeed the trilogy, but the sexual abuse was horrific and I only continued to read the book to come to some peace within my self.
Dorries brings some amazing insights on the human condition and particularly the mental health problems encountered by one of her central characters. As a counsellor she brought very accurate insights into her characters.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not my normal read/listen and I must say I am enjoying it. My sister enjoys books about hardship I.e Chatherine Cookson etc and I've never seen the attraction.

The book tells the story of a close knit Irish community which has settled in Liverpool and most of the men work at the dockside.. We learn about the poverty, religion and love which surrounds each member of the community. A stranger marries into it and the impact this has will rock the community for ever. Included in the story is instances of rape and abuse but it is essential to the plot.

I'm enjoying the narrator and each character has their own voice. Will get book 2

[Gemma Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started off as a wonderful love story in the 1950's. I was instantly intrigued by the lives of the families on the Four Streets, happiness and hard times. And because of this I kept on reading the book even though parts of the story were difficult to read. The Secrets and abuse the young girl had to keep was devastating but I felt it brought awareness to the subject. Overall a good read and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens in the lives of all the families in the next books.

[Annemarie Farthing · Rating 5 out of 5]

1950' Liverpool
Memorable quotes...
'There was a direct connection between the whiteness of the net curtains and the moral values within'
'Poverty, gratitude, a sense of inferiority and insecurity made children prey to the things that were invisible and were never spoken of.'
'Father James had taken to coming upstairs to bless the children about once a month'
The bit about Camp coffee made me smile 😃

[Kittykorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some disturbing issues in this book! Some brought back disturbing memories for me so I found it hard to carry on reading but I did, it's not too bad a read if you can get past some of the issues, I will be reading the next book. I really felt for the characters Nellie and Kitty and look forward to see where these two will end up.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a few of the other reviews here but then decided to stop before it influenced me too much. I did enjoy the story, and I felt that it described the living conditions well for that time and place. It was a hard time during thT period, I liked the fact that she added the 'ghost' to the story, hopefully I will read the next part.

[Julie (73) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Excellent read and so much more than what I was expecting. This has been on my tbr for a number of years and thought "I'll get this one read and out of the way" but thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and am off to purchase the next in the series. An engrossing read.

[Leona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book and the first in a trilogy.