Jack and the Lad (The Barrow Boys of Barking Book 1) 1st edition

London, 1736? A delectable young debutante boycotts the season?s biggest society ball to visit the East End in search of a bit of rough; caught in the act by her father with beefy Barking barrow boy Jaden Woodfield, she?s promptly sent to the nearest nunnery and locked up for the rest her natural life. Her real name is lost to the mists of time, but the sour old nuns soon gave her another one; they called her ?Minty Hardcore?. London, 2006? Jack Woodfield has it sorted; he?s got brains, brawn, and sightly bulges. Working in a swank City firm, this modern man hails from a long line of hunky barrow boys. But Jack?s ditching West Ham United, Barking market, and especially his belligerent brother Jamie; any gossip about great-uncles and their paranormal romances, 'entities from Essex' or ?doomed debutantes? are cobblers as far as Jack?s concerned. He?s been to the LSE; he doesn?t call girls ?birds?. In fact, he?s quite cultured. But over Jack?s shoulder lurks his hell-raising cousin, Hayden ?the lad? Woodfield, the willing slave of the family?s mysterious, frisky phantom; this naughty nun?s preternatural predilection for burly ex-barrow boys could screw up Jack?s prospects for promotion and a cosmopolitan, politically correct existence rather royally... Has Jack mislaid his masculinity? Will Minty Hardcore turn back the clock, to a time when men were men, and debutantes were delighted?! Can Jack?s sparkling City career be saved, or will Hayden haul him back to Barking, where he'll be doomed to spend the rest of his days bogged down in cheap bling and flexing his biceps for the delectation of the local girl gangs?!