When challenged to research about a topic that would never get covered in the English classes, Joana F chose Lesley Pearse. Here is the ppt she used on her presentation to the class.

1. LESLEY PEARSE
AUTHOR

2. REMEMBER ME
In 1786 a fisherman's daughter from
Cornwall called Mary Broad was
sentenced to be hung for theft. But
her sentence was commuted, and she
was transported to Australia, one of
the first convicts to arrive there.
How Mary escaped the harsh existence
of the colony and found true love, and
how she was captured and taken back to
London in chains, only to be released
after a trial where she was defended by
no less than James Boswell, is one of
the most gripping and moving stories
of human endeavour (based on an
amazing true story) you will ever read.

3. GYPSY
Liverpool, 1893, and tragedy sends Beth
Bolton on a journey far from home . . .
Fifteen-year-old Beth's dreams are shattered
when she, her brother Sam and baby sister Molly
are orphaned. Sam believes that only in America
can they make their fortunes so, reluctantly
leaving Molly with adoptive parents, brother and
sister embark on the greatest adventure of their
lives.
Onboard the steamer to New York there are
rogues aplenty. But Beth's talent with the fiddle
earns her the nickname Gypsy – and the
friendship of charismatic gambler Theo and
sharp-witted Londoner Jack. And after dodging
trouble across America, finally the foursome head
for the dangerous mountains of Canada and the
Klondike river in search of gold.
How far must Beth go to find happiness? And
will her travels lead this gypsy to a place she can
call home?

4. FATHER UNKNOWN
One young woman in search of a past - and a
future...
Sweet-natured but dappy Daisy Buchan drifts
from job to job and takes her policeman
boyfriend Joel for granted. She's happy, but she
doesn't know what she wants from life.
But when her adoptive mother dies and leaves her
twenty-five-year-old daughter a scrapbook of
memories, Daisy finally discovers who she is and
where she came from. Her real mother was a
teenage farmer's daughter from Cornwall - and
Daisy drops everything to go and find her. But in
going in search of her past, is Daisy risking the
future of her relationship not only with her
adored dad but also with Joel? And will she be
able to deal with the truth about her real parents
and the real Daisy?

5. NEVER LOOK BACK
Matilda Jennings was a poor flower girl in
Covent Garden until the day she saved the
life of a minister's daughter called Tabitha.
Drawn into the bosom of little Tabitha's
family, she little realises it will soon mean
uprooting her own life.
For Matilda leaves Victorian London's slums and
heads first for the darkest corners of New York,
then beyond into the plains of the Wild West
and San Francisco's gold rush. With only her
beauty, intelligence and the strong will she
forged on London's streets to guide her, Matilda
must create a new life for herself and Tabitha.
Between the sweat and tears, heartbreak and
passion, she encounters Captain James Russell, a
man in whom she might find true love. A love
that must withstand separation, war and the birth
pangs of a new nation. But through it all,
Matilda knows she must never look back ...

6. “In her time Central Park had been swampy
waste ground, and the most desperate of the
Irish labourers who built the Croton Aqueduct,
that miracle which brought piped clean water to
the city, squatted there in squalid shanties with
their pigs and goats. The park was wonderful,
and she was so glad that the people of the city
had somewhere serenely beautiful to escape to,
but to her mind the new Brooklyn Bridge was
more splendid. While nature had created the
true magic of the park, the bridge was an
entirely man-made miracle, engineering and
artistry working hand in hand to make
something which looked fragile and beautiful, yet
was strong enough to withstand the elements and
the heaviest of traffic.”

9. “Finders Court was ten two- and three-storey ramshackle houses leaning drunkenly on each
other around a tiny squalid yard. The upper windows, many of them boarded up with bits
of wood and rags, almost touched the ones opposite. Each house had some ten or twelve
small rooms, and most of these were occupied by more than one family. It was just off
Rosemary Lane, London’s largest second-hand clothes market, and just a few minutes’ walk
from the Tower of London and the river Thames.
At dusk on a chilly March evening, as always the court was teeming with noisy activity,
costermongers trying to entice the frowzy women in grubby caps leaning out from upper
windows to come down and buy the remaining goods on their handcarts, groups of dirt-
smeared dock workers discussing the day’s work, or the lack of it. Old men and women were
flopped down on doorsteps, taking a rest before staggering up the stairs with their sacks
laden with the proceeds of a day’s scavenging work. Ragged children manned the water
pump, filling their buckets and jugs, while younger siblings fought and played around them.”

11. “She knew of courts where there were as many as thirty people huddled in one filthy room, without even a
blanket to cover themselves. In those, runaway children and orphans as young as five or six slept alongside
criminals, prostitutes, beggars and the feeble-minded, and their corruption began from their first night in such
places.”

12. “She found this part of London curious as it changed
so much during the course of the day. Now in early
morning it was busy with shop girls and businessmen
rushing to work, side-stepping the many street sweepers
and scavengers. Occasionally she was lucky enough to
sell a couple of posies to men at this time of day, but
mostly people were in too much of a hurry to stop. By
noon a different class of people emerged, ladies and
gentlemen arriving in carriages and cabs for luncheon
and shopping. There would be throngs of young, pretty
girls too, hoping to catch the eye of a gentleman.”

13. THE PROMISE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHVIZ4Twjwg

14. DONE BY
Joana F, 12 M (ESJR)