Queenie is a fictional character.
However, the events at Bethnal Green tube station did happen, as described, and a group called Stairway to Heaven has been campaigning for a permanent memorial. You can donate to the fund.
I’d like to gratefully acknowledge the following:
All of Me: My Extraordinary Life by Barbara Windsor and Robin McGibbon. Headline Book Publishing, 2000.
Mandy by Mandy Rice-Davies with Shirley Flack. Michael Joseph Ltd, 1980.
Gone Shopping: The Story of Shirley Pitts, Queen of Thieves by Lorraine Gamman. Signet, 1996.
Ruth Ellis, My Sister’s Secret Life by Muriel Jakubait with Monica Weller. Constable and Robinson Ltd, 2005.
Behind Closed Doors by Diana Dors. WH Allen & Co Ltd, 1979.
Come by Sunday, The Fabulous Ruined Life of Diana Dors by Damon Wise. Sidgwick and Jackson, 1998.
An English Madam, The Life and Work of Cynthia Payne by Paul Bailey. Jonathan Cape, Ltd, 1982.
Borstal Boy by Brendan Behan. Hutchinson and Co. Ltd, 1958.
Crime Archive: The Great Train Robbery by Peter Guttridge. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, 2008.
The Autobiography of a Thief by Bruce Reynolds. Virgin Books Ltd, 2005.
With warmest thanks to Iris Cannon, Frank and Margaret Bowles, and Josie Bowles for sharing their wartime reminiscences. Also to Jake Arnott and Lorraine Gamman for generosity with their time and specialized knowledge. To Suzanne Howlett for her invaluable insights and input. To good friends Sally Cline, Geraldine Harmsworth, Kathryn Heyman, and Louise Doughty for keeping me going. To my agent, Caroline Dawnay, for her clearheaded professionalism and kindness; to my editor, Carole Welch, and her assistant, Ruth Tross, for input in the first draft of this novel, which was transformative.
This novel is for the Dawson girls: Maud, Debra, Beth, Lotte, and Rose.
And for Meredith, with love, as ever.