01,
1919, birmingham.
"MY NAME IS Emerald, Emerald Hathaway, and you've probably heard about me for all the wrong reasons. I'll admit it now, I'm no angel. I was the kid that stole everything and stuck my tongue out at adults. But my uncle did once say, 'to be insane in a mad world is actually sanity'— or whatever the fuck that man said— he died drunk and hit his head on a bloody boat. But anyway, I may be trouble but I come from an even more troubled little place. Birmingham, Small Heath. Paradise to us and probably hell on earth to you. If you've heard of here, you've definitely heard of the peaky blinders. Everyone's scared of them. Yet, I'm not. I don't think I'm scared of anything—"
"Are you reading my fucking diary!?"
She stood by the door of the kitchen where her two sisters, Carmen and Stella, gathered around, snickering.
"I didn't know we had a modern day Shakespeare in our presence!" Carmen laughed, dangling the diary up in the air.
"Yeah, I'm surprised you even know how to read and write, you never paid attention in class." Stella smirked.
Emerald glares at them, enraged. Her whole body shook as she spoke, "You have no right to go through my things!" She screamed.
"Well you practically left it lying around like bait!" Carmen couldn't stop laughing at her younger sister's growing embarrassment.
"I bet you've written about having a secret lover in here, I just have to find it." Stella chuckled, flicking through the pages with eagerness.
And that, that was enough to kick off a war.
With no notice, Emerald pounces towards them, screeching, kicking and fighting for her life to get her sacred diary back. It was quite the sight, they all tackled each other like wild dogs.
But this was a typical day at the Hathaway household, believe it or not.
They lived tucked away behind factories and little shops, near the canal. Four little gypsy women fighting each other whilst also fighting for a place in the world. It was a little ironic.
"Can you lot stop it?! Can we have some peace in this house for just one fucking second, please?" Priscilla stormed into the room, putting her handbag down.
Ah, their voice of reason. The infamous Priscilla Margaret Hathaway. Eldest sister of the clan, singer by day and occasional prostitute by night. People around here know her for having a reputation for being stubborn and in control.
She didn't take shit from anyone, not even the King of bloody England.
"If any one of you's lay a hand on each other, you're sleeping outside in the ditch!" Priscilla sneered, still wearing last night's dress with smudged lipstick.
They all freeze, looking up with a dazzled expression.
"She took my diary!" Emerald argued, trying to fight her case. "She's invaded my personal life cos' she's a jealous twat!"
"You don't have a life, why would I be jealous, you plonker?!" Carmen shot back, trying to swing for her.
"Right!" Priscilla breaks them up. "I'm splitting you idiots up for the day!" She announces. She runs her hand through her dark brown curls, fed up. "Carmen, you should be at the Marquis pub. You have a shift."
"I do?" Carmen stared at the clock, defeated. How could she forget that today was her first day at her new job?
Priscilla handed Carmen her apron. "Also give the stupid diary back to your poor sister, will you?"
Annoyed and defeated, Carmen reluctantly hands it back.
"Thank you, idiot." Emerald smiled at her sarcastically as she left.
It was a small victory but she really had to find better places to hide her secret things in this circus of a house.
"Stella, I need you to help at Uncle Jack's factory today. He helped fix our floorboards last week, so we owe him. He even wants to pay you fairly." Priscilla throws herself onto a chair, taking out a cigarette.
"Erm, he says that to all his workers yet everyone's still going on strike." Stella complained, pouring tea. "But fine, if I must."
Emerald sighed, getting ready to skip back to her bedroom to sleep and daydream. Right now she was unemployed, and spent most of her days causing mayhem whilst doing little jobs here and there for the locals.
"Wait, you're not going anywhere, Emmy." Priscilla began, making her stop in her tracks. "I need you to run to the shops and buy what we need for supper tonight."
Emerald exhaled heavily. "What if I don't want to?"
"Well," Priscilla stands up, tapping the ash off her cigarette. "This isn't really a fucking democracy, is it? I'm in charge whilst mum is gone."
Their mother, Mary-Beth, had been on a world tour. Not because she was a dazzling musician, actress, or anything, but because she couldn't stand being in one place for too long. She had these episodes where she'd run off and come back weeks, sometimes months after. She'd travel with a herd of gypsies through the mountains and country sides.
The good thing was, she'd come back with money, presents and never ending stories.
"And..." Priscilla dumps a pile of clothes into her hands. "After that, take these clothes to the washer women on Garrison Lane."
Emerald groaned loudly, accepting her inescapable fate. There was no arguing with her tyrant of an older sister. Luckily for her though, it was a pleasant spring morning to do errands. Little kids were running to the sound of the school bell, and factories were opening up as the morning sun rose.
The smog and smoke of Birmingham darkened the atmosphere, but there was something strangely beautiful about this place.
"Good morning, Emmy!" The milkman waved, brushing past.
She couldn't help but wave back, strolling along the cobblestone streets of Garrison Lane with a basket of dirty clothes.
It seemed to be a busy morning, she could hear the sound of distant chatter and laughs. Everything seemed fine. Perfect, really. Well, sort of. Except for the fact that people now had a frightened look smeared on their faces and were beginning to hide in their homes.
"Quick, run!" A woman shouted in panic, grabbing her children and sprinting for dear life.
What on earth is going on? Emerald thought, looking around, completely puzzled.
"Psst!" Suddenly, a man grabs her arm, pulling her aside and into the corner of the street.
"Excuse me?!" She yanked herself out of his grip. "I'm giving you two seconds to explain why you've just touched me before I smash your head in."
The old man was a worker, dressed in uniform, and had coal stained hands.
"Are you thick, girl?" He jeered. "Thomas Shelby is coming down the street on his horse." He was looking around, scared. "If you don't want to get killed for getting in his way, then hide."
Emerald rolls her eyes, reluctantly hiding behind wooden barrels. "I'm not scared of him, or any of the peaky blinders for that matter."
The peaky blinders. Razor caps. Tailored suits. And knuckles of steel. It was a name she had heard too often in these streets now, they were becoming rather popular these days, and for all the wrong reasons.
"Shut up!" The man whispered harshly, pulling her back down.
Emerald's blue eyes peer through the tiny gap of the barrels in front of her. Emerald could just about see the hooves of Tommy's black horse slam against the concrete repeatedly.
The whole street was dead silent. It was as if no one lived here anymore. Like it was a ghost town, completely abandoned for good. But you could sense it, you could sense the fear of everyone that hid.
Her eyes widen with more curiosity. She was moving her body to the side, trying to get a better view.
And that's when she saw him, properly.
Tommy Shelby, dressed in a perfectly tailored grey suit with blue bloodthirsty eyes, and a stoic face that remained unmoved.
On that horse, looking down, he seemed like a god.
He saw everything, their sins, their good deeds. It was as if the whole world balanced on his hand and he could destroy everything in seconds. Maybe he could, maybe that was the irony of it.
"What's he doing?" Emerald asked, waiting for the man next to her to respond.
A young Chinese girl walks up to the horse, her hand full of red powder.
"You're the girl that tells fortunes, right?" Tommy questioned loudly.
She nods, clearly terrified of the gangster in front of her. He watches the young girl chant a few words in Chinese before gently blowing the powder into the horse's face.
The old man turns to her. "They're doing a magic spell, to make the horse win the race."
"That's bullshit." She mocked. "Utter bullshit, and if you believe any of that then you're also utter bullshit."
The man glares at her, as if he couldn't process those words. "Your mouth does not suit a pretty young lady like yourself."
"Good." Emerald scoffed, feeling rather complimented than offended.
"The horse's name is Monoghan Boy. The race is at Kempton, three o'clock, Monday. You all have a bet yourselves." Tommy announced loudly on the street for everyone hiding to hear.
"This is just a complete spectacle, a fucking show so they can make money off the poor." She crossed her arms, unimpressed.
"Well, they're about to make a shit ton, the whole of Birmingham will be betting on that horse now." The man gets up, walking away.
The street was slowly going back to normal as Tommy had left now, leaving his words to linger in the air. This magic horse would probably be the talk of the ladies in the washing houses, then it'd make its way to the brothels of Birmingham and into every little corner shop, until the whole city was talking about it and betting.
Tommy knew what he was doing.
And Emerlad was tired, tired of people like herself struggling to get by whilst the peaky blinders cheated their way to the top.
Her and her sisters had dreams and ambitions. They wanted better than Small Heath. Sometimes it kept her up at night thinking about it. Thinking about how her eldest sister gave parts of her body to strange men. Emerald was only young when Carmen left school to work. Her littlest sister, Stella, was just sixteen and hadn't had parents for most of her life.
She gets up, dusting herself and picking up her washing basket.
That's when the plan came to her head. And it might just be the most stupid and dangerous thing but it was her only hope.
She was going to steal.
And although she had done that plenty of times before, yes, plenty, this time was different.
She was going to steal from the Shelby betting shop.
All she needed was just enough money to get her family out of Small Heath, to start a better life, with better conditions.
Nothing could stop her now that her mind had been made up.
•••
AUTHORS NOTE.
thank you all for reading the first proper chapter, I hope you enjoyed.
I will be updating soon and there's definitely more coming with this book!