Book description
World War Two is finally over. Millions all over the country are
starting to wonder if peacetime really is much of an improvement on
the War. Food shortages, endless queues, power cuts, rationing and
freezing winters make it extremely difficult to make ends meet as
husbands return from battlefields to families they hardly know. Yet
some East Enders are living large...in a bombed out damp and squalid
Hackney slum, one family are leading a life of luxury, a loadsamoney
world funded by illegal betting, where virtually everything is
available, thanks to a thriving black market. The Hyams family has a
retinue of unofficial servants: a chauffeur, a cleaner and an army of
delivery men. They take seaside holidays in posh hotels and dine on
the finest foods and delicacies money can buy...but at the core of
their daily life, an ever-growing nightmare lurks, threatening to
wreck their luxurious existence. In this honest and sincere memoir,
Jacky Hyams revisits the 'live for today' world of her childhood, a
world where money was no object, growing up in a household underpinned
by betting, booze and bribes. From stories of her parents partying
with the Krays in the East End of old, to the optimistic swinging
sixties of London's West End, this is the intimate story of a unique
childhood, set against the backdrop of squalid, post-War Hackney.
