Stepping Stones

Lizzie O’Brien was born into a large, boisterous family, determined to stay together in Liverpool despite the nightly bombing raids of the Second World War. But for Lizzie, childhood innocence is haunted by a dark shadow. Even her mother’s devotion and the love of her brothers cannot drive out the spectre that is ruining her life – her brute of a father, who sees her as a dark cuckoo invading his family of blond sons.

At sixteen, Lizzie runs away to London – the first of her stepping stones towards freedom and a new life of her own. She believes the past and its nightmares are locked away tight, and only a glorious future remains, of friendships forged for a lifetime and a glittering new career as an actress set for Hollywood.

But the past is hurrying to catch up with her, threatening to destroy her dreams. A lonely, frightened thirteen-year-old girl is sobbing to her through the years and she can no longer ignore the truth…

I have read many of Maureen Lee's books and found them extremely gripping and enjoyable. I was a little bit disappointed with 'Stepping Stones'. Although the story was well written I found two of the 'twists' to be completely unbelievable and totally far fetched. This kind of put me off reading to the end. It was still well written but I found myself shouting 'as if that would happen!'