My East End : Memories of Life in Cockney London Paperback / softback

Gilda O'Neill's The East End traces the East End of London - cockneys, criminals, street markets, pub singalongs, dog racing, jellied eels.

London's East End it is a place at once appealing and unruly, comforting and incomprehensible.

Gilda O'Neill, an East Ender herself shows there is more to this fascinating area than a collection of cliched images.

Using oral history and more traditional sources she builds up a powerful image of this community - bringing to us, with wit and honesty, the real story of London's East End. 'Every page is a delight. Every chapter made vivid by a writer who has poured heart and soul into her book' Daily Mail 'A rich tapestry... a finely detailed examination of our not so distant past.

Her book is as much a piece of history as the accounts it contains' Time OutGilda O'Neill was born and brought up in the East End.

She left school at fifteen but returned to education as a mature student.

She wrote full-time and continued to live in the East End with her husband and family.

Sadly she died on 24 September 2010 after a short illness.