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 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.
