West End Girls - The real lives of Soho's working girls

1948. A twenty one year old girl, mistreated, headstrong, virtuous and very innocent, escapes from her dysfunctional family life and ends up in Soho. There, in a bar, she strikes a most unlikely friendship with Mae, the glamorous West End working girl, the Queen of Soho.

For two years she worked "before the bedpost" as Mae's maid, getting intimately acquainted with the prostitutes and other colourful characters frequenting low life Soho. In this unlikely setting she experiences love, laughter, betrayal, tears. This is the place where she came of age and learnt to stand on her own two feet. A foundation that would launch her into a successful and rewarding life as a painter and artist.

West End Girls is a true account of an extraordinary friendship between two exceptional outcasts. It is scheduled for release in July 2010. Before then, please avail yourself of some of Barbara's very interesting stories and drawings about life in decadent Soho...

Read snippets from the original manuscript and other background information

View the wonderful drawings Barbara created for the story