2024-10-28
28 分钟Bestselling writer Lesley Pearse's own story is wilder than any romance. An agent once told Lesley Pearse to "write what you know", but her own story is more extraordinary than any of her bestselling novels. In this, the first episode of two, we follow her from playground storyteller to lost teenage girl in 1960s London, to brave single mum determined to go it alone. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Laura Thomas & Edgar Maddicott Get in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service.
Three years after the Taliban swept to power, as many as 8 out of 10 female journalists in Afghanistan are no longer in their jobs.
But some have resisted.
What is the life of female journalists?
Like now?
Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
We went to a bar around the corner and I had false eyelashes on and like the cigarette smoke and everything, I didn't smoke in those days was making me cry.
And this man said to me, why are you crying?
And I said, because the President's dead.
I was such an actress sometimes.
Novelist Leslie Pierce probably has about 10 episodes of lives Less Ordinary in her.
Even when she was little, before she'd lived any of the big wild lives to come, she was making up stories.
And as a lone teenager making her way in 60s London, her instinct for a tall tale and a knockout set of fake eyelashes protected her.
I did what I always do when things are bad, is make up something.
I'm Assia Fuchs.
This is Lives Less Ordinary.
And today we bring you the first part of Leslie's story.
These days she's a multimillion selling romance novelist.
Her books are adored around the world for their strong heroines facing life's curveballs with bravery and determination.