West End Girls: The Real Lives, Loves and Friendships of 1940s Soho and Its Working Girls

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A vivid and compelling memoir recounting the real lives, loves, and friendship of 1940s Soho and its working girlsBarbara Tate was 17 when she heard the whispered word that would change her life: Soho. It would take four years for Barbara to escape her loveless home but when she finally made it to the forbidden streets of Soho—just as London was recovering from the trauma of the second world war—things would never be the same again. There the naive Barbara meets the beautiful and capricious Mae. When she takes a job as Mae's maid, Barbara imagines she'll be housekeeping. But down a shabby backstreet, Barbara discovers the secret lives of Soho's working girls. An astonishing world full of fierce friendships and bitter rivalries, dangerous men and desperate measures, Barbara soon learns that taking the money from a staggering supply of punters and making copious amounts of tea are only the bare essentials. She will need to be nursemaid, protector, and confidante to impossible, adorable, self destructive Mae.ReviewIn this affectionate and witty memoir [Tate] tells of her brief foray into the fantastical, untamed and gaudy world of prostitution. DAILY EXPRESS The memoir is beautifully written, occasionally rather shocking, but is hard to put down, and can be very funny indeed. MUSEUM OF LONDON FRIENDS NEWS About the AuthorBarbara Tate left her Soho life and went on to marry, raise a family and become a successful painter. President of the Society of Women Artists, Barbara also received an honorary professorship from Thames Valley University. Barbara died in 2009.