Burning Bright by Helen Dunmore. Penguin, 2009

As with many of Dunmore's books this one tells more than one story, in more than one time period. The main character is Nadine through whom the reader experiences the contemporary story. She is sixteen, although she tells everyone she is nineteen, and has left home. She has an autistic sister who gets more attention than she does and, though she used to do well at school, she has suddenly begun to have trouble with her schoolwork. Maybe she has a form of dyslexia? She has acquired a Finnish boyfriend much older than her and has left her family in order to live with him. He is setting her up in an old Georgian house somewhere west of London in the country, probably Wiltshire. She does not realise initially that Kai and his friend Tony are pimps as she believes that they make all their money from property deals. In fact, Tony, in particular, specialises in supplying girls to politicians who have particular requirements but as Kai is the boss in the partnership it must be his idea.  One of his clients is Paul Parrett who is the third significant character in the novel. The second is Enid who is an old lady in her seventies living at the top of the house that Tony and Kai have bought and that Kai has moved Nadine into. She has tenant's rights and they cannot get her out. The old woman and the young one befriend each other and begin to find out about each other's lives.
Enid has a past and the flashbacks concern her life as a young girl and the Manchester Ladies that become a part of her life. She has a relationship with one of these ladies but jealousy and tragedy ensue. The book was first published in 1994 so this story probably took place about the time of World War Two and just before. The reader sees the novel's action through the eyes of Enid, Nadine and Paul which helps to reveal new aspects but the story is strangely dark. I wonder what gave Dunmore the idea for writing it - it could almost be a story in a newspaper. The language is as elegant as ever and she understands, tellingly, the different speech nuances of the characters. Some people find the ending disappointing but I think that it is just a young girl moving on to the next phase of her life. Not my most favourite of her books.