The Ha'penny Steps. Book 3. Alice's Story

Set against the background of the London Blitz, Peter Porteous lives over the Ha'penny Steps in Kensal Town. He has a day job as a factory supervisor, and he volunteers as an Air Raid Precautions warden. He spends a lot of time fire watching during the height of the bombing in 1940. He is also a black marketeer. In these times of shortages and rationing, he will trade in anything that turns a profit, but mostly women's nylon stockings, cigarettes and alcohol. As far as one can during the height of the London Blitz, he has a relatively comfortable existence, dodging both the bombs and the attentions of the police.

Porteous has a small group of ladies around him. Nancy Keeling is an upmarket prostitute working for an organised gang in London's West End. She is shining a light for Porteous. Edith Bell is the landlady of the local public house. She has a friendly magistrate as a part-time lover as well as the occasional paying customer. Shira Adelman, a Polish refugee, is the unhappy wife of a crooked Jewish jeweller. Alice Halpin is Porteous's deputy at the factory. Driven out of her family home because she is in a long-term relationship with her partner, Phyllis, she bumps along at the edge of London's society. Together with Porteous business partner, Jimmy Ryan, the little group does what it can to maintain an existence during the height of the bombing.

Book 3 of the trilogy tells Alice's story from her humble beginnings in Liverpool and the realisation of her sexuality. She gradually finds a discreet place in society as a skilled engineer together with the partner Phyllis, an officer in the Wrens. Alice is close to Porteous and Nancy, but she inadvertently gets mixed up with the British Union of Fascists doing a slightly dodgy job for an East London gangster when Porteous gets arrested. This job leads to a violent climax. Her rape as a teenager has toughened Alice. She brooks no fools and will stop at nothing to protect her way of life.