Lesley Pearse's 'Long and Winding Road'

“To become a novelist, you need at least one of the following: Irish blood, a screwed up childhood, or a Catholic upbringing. I’ve got all three, which is a good start.”

That's how Torquay’s Lesley Pearse described her predisposition to writing. Clearly, there’s some sense to it, as she has become one world’s leading storytellers with multiple No.1 bestsellers to her name and over 10 million copies sold.

A literary inspiration to so many around the world, it’s remarkable how little is known about Lesley Pearse, until now.

In her latest book, ‘The Long and Winding Road’, Lesley turns her writing inward, to tell her own story of love, adventure, heartbreak and self-discovery.

Perhaps with less long winds and more sharp twists, the book is full of unforgettable surprises.

“I think it is quite an exciting story,” said Lesley, “But there’s a lot of ups and downs, a lot of sadness in between the good stuff.

“I didn't want to write a misery memoir, but when it starts out it feels that way - I promise it does get more cheerful!”

Born in Kent during the Second World War, Lesley's life took a dramatic turn very early when, at the age of three, she was discovered coatless in the snow by a neighbour. Her mother, whom she couldn't wake, had died days earlier.

With her father in the Royal Marines and her brother taken away from her, Lesley spent three years alone in orphanages. She was then brought home to live with her father again, along with a stepmother and a constant influx of foster children.

Lesley said: “At home I was very cowed by my step-mother, so I became a saint in the house but a street devil.

“I was generally considered to be a bad influence on other kids because I was very badly behaved at school. I always took a dare: if anybody said to me to do something, I would do it.”

At this point, writing wasn’t to even cross Lesley’s mind for decades. She remembered: “Back then, I didn’t think of writers coming from backgrounds like mine.

“I wanted to be a ballet dancer but I was chucked out after the first lesson because I danced like an elephant. In my head I could dance but not physically. Really, I wanted to be a wife and mother, as boring as that sounds.”

Life at home wasn’t easy, and at age 15, Lesley left for London for a new life.

“I’m what they call a bolter, if things don’t go well, I run, I’m out of there, which can be a good or a bad thing.”
Leaving home, Lesley was thrown head-first into the blossoming hedonism of the swinging sixties.

Sharing flats, working and partying throughout London, Lesley had a front seat to the cultural upheaval that transformed the city from being bleak and conservative to colourful care-free.

“They do say that if you remember it you weren’t there,” said Lesley.

“68 and 69 were the really lovely years. I lived in a flat in Golders Green. We’d go out with painted faces and bare feet, just being silly all the time.

“I think everybody ought to do that when they're young, because you're only young for such a short while.”

She added: “Music brings back that time to me.  I mean the title of my book is inspired by the Beatles’ song ‘The Long and Winding Road’. I can remember hearing that record and feeling so sad that the Beatles are splitting up -  their music was a soundtrack of my youth.”

Not all of Lesley’s youth was happy story. At 18 she found herself pregnant. Sent to a mother and baby home, Lesley was determined to keep her son Warren, but the prevailing culture of the time was against her.

Lesley was forced to give Warren up at the age of six months.

She said: “I tried so hard to keep him. After I lost him, there was always a sad thread going through my life. However happy I was, this feeling was always at the back of my mind, this soreness, a wound that had never healed.”

Years later, the story took another twist, which can be read in The Long and Winding Road.

After a short-lived first marriage, Lesley found the love of her life, John. John was a talented trumpeter, playing with legends such as Dusty Springfield, Lulu and David Bowie, but he was a troubled soul.

As the 60s turned to the 70s, John’s mental health deteriorated, losing him his music career and eventually putting him in hospital. Lesley and John split soon after.

Lesley said: “The time spent with him was some of the best times of my life. I think we all have one big love in our life and he was certainly mine. I think anything that makes you feel really alive in your life, you never forget that, and I never did with John.”

Alone once more and responsible for a young child, Lesley encountered her third husband, Nigel, while hitchhiking to a job interview. She moved to Bristol, where she established a gift shop and welcomed daughters Sammy and Jo into the family.

It was here, at the age of 48, that Lesley’s literally story finally began.

“I was reading The Thorn Birds while feeding my daughter on a Sunday night. The next thing I knew it was the morning. I'd been there all night and the baby was still in my arms.

“I was so glued to that book, I can remember as I walked down the stairs I thought about how amazing it would be to write a book like that, that could glue people to thor chair all night.”

After a short story course and multiple failed attempts, Lesley had her first book: Georgia. Even then, it still took seven years to find a publisher.  

From there, Lesley Pearse has had a string of bestsellers, her stories touching people from across the world. Many of the characters she writes hold a mirror up to the experiences she’s had, her life experience crucial to their development.

Lesley explained: “All my books have got this element of the rags to riches and people who've had screwed up childhood.

“I think by and large there is a depth of understanding that comes with age and life experience, about what people do and why they do it.

“And then you realise that sometimes that it's not just you telling a story, you've actually done some sort of public service because you're almost like a therapy. People reading about adoption, cruelty to children, abuse in marriages and other tough subjects that I've covered.

“The amount of women that are hiding that away still putting up with it. And sometimes if they just read about it in a book. It may be fiction, but they think, if she got out of that, perhaps I can, too.

“There's been loads of books in my life that have made me think like that.”

The Long and Winding Road is now available online and at all good book shops.