Book description
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 is a
successful radio playwright and TV producer, and has worked with some of
the great names of entertainment, including Benny Hill and Dodie Smith,
had a longstanding correspondence with Stan Laurel and scripted and
produced many of the BBC's 'Dr Who' series. In recent years he has
worked as a producer for Jim Henson, and set up his own production
company, whose first TV documentary won an Emmy Award.
