Blood Line: Sometimes Tragedy Is in Your Blood

Blood Line: Sometimes Tragedy Is in Your Blood
Julie Shaw

Previously published as My Uncle Charlie.If you lived on the notorious Canterbury Estate in the ‘40s and ‘50s, then you knew there was one man you did not want to cross: Charlie Hudson.A solitary man, feared and respected by the gangsters of the time, Charlie was a boxer who never lost a fight, in or out of the ring – the most infamous of The Canterbury Warriors.Blood Line, the second title in the explosive series unravels a story of debauchery, crime and self-destruction. Charlie Hudson was a born leader. The eldest of eight brothers and four sisters and with a boxer for a father, fighting was in his blood. And as the young protégé of local Italian gangster, Mr Cappovanni, Charlie not only learned to knock every opponent out, he also learned the tools of the crime and extortion trade well; emerging into adulthood in the middle of the war years as a natural heir: running cons, illegal books and a band of prostitutes.But when Charlie met Betty, a sweet, caring girl, he was determined to be a better man for her. He’d still deal with ‘business’ but no more would he bed his working girls, and the birth of their baby girl, Elizabeth, sealed it: he knew life could not get any better. But for a man who had only ever lived in the belly of the Canterbury Estate underworld, it could definitely get worse…Gritty and engrossing, book two of the Hudson family saga delves deeper into history of the infamous Canterbury Warriors; the true story of one man’s ascendancy to power, and the tragedy that brought it all crashing down.

Copyright (#uef994a76-bf06-54a9-9f7c-1395028a6a20)

All names and identities have been changed in this memoir, to protect both the living and the children of those who have died. Some changes have been made to historical facts for the same reason.

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First published by HarperElement 2014 as My Uncle Charlie This edition 2018

© Julie Shaw and Lynne Barrett-Lee 2014

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018 Cover photographs © Plainpicture/Harald Braun (woman); Mark Owen/Trevillion Images (man)

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Julie Shaw and Lynne Barrett-Lee assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780007542260

Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780007542277

Version: 2018-07-09

Contents

Cover (#uc64c9c56-e406-5ae1-892c-875bc05c1e2d)

Title Page (#u783d0c5a-7d32-582b-9b8f-9fcc79a0cd6b)

Copyright (#ulink_f05e4939-6679-52bc-a5aa-91650485ab49)

The Final Countdown (#ulink_50d8b437-dd52-5d5e-8056-c9686b4abfe4)

Note by the Author (#ulink_f4c507e9-9d62-5bb3-81fd-0d6bc362fda7)

Hudson Family Tree (#ua0b56124-349b-5ad8-bd43-b6165f9e4fff)

Prologue (#ulink_eff08e83-89f1-5d3e-81a8-dee1df1cd67e)

Part One

Chapter 1 (#ulink_559b0612-0ce5-554b-8c3d-572f4c3f8072)

Chapter 2 (#ulink_72e8c571-fb66-5fda-b5cc-96f6e0b7f84d)

Chapter 3 (#ulink_28f378fa-5719-54ec-a019-54db760cc508)

Chapter 4 (#ulink_b30aa7ba-2edd-5382-8f5d-87bd0c426701)

Chapter 5 (#ulink_d7a5fa08-710d-5f93-831e-3e67f9eab8c4)

Chapter 6 (#ulink_6631916f-e490-5fed-bea4-27a09402fab8)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Two

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)