# Come Back, Paddy Riley

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/carol-birch/come-back-paddy-riley/9781844087983

![Come Back, Paddy Riley](https://quivercdn.com/covers/virago/carol-birch/come-back-paddy-riley_978-18-4408-798-3.jpg?v=2026-05-19%2005%3A18%3A15)

- Book: [Come Back, Paddy Riley](https://www.bookquiver.com/carol-birch/come-back-paddy-riley) ([Come Back, Paddy Riley.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/carol-birch/come-back-paddy-riley.md))
- Authors: [Carol Birch](https://www.bookquiver.com/carol-birch)
- Publisher: virago
- ISBN: 978-18-4408-798-3
- Pages: 1
- Published: 2011-05-05
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

Anita's mother was the mermaid in the Belle Vue Fair Freak Show. Into their lives came Paddy Riley, a young Irish lad whose motto was 'the only crime in life is not to take up a good opportunity'. The opportunity was Anita's mother - hungry for love and romance. Their secret is safe until young Anita, their go-between, spins a jealous lie that tragically catches them all. Now grown with children of her own, Anita has found a kind of peace with a sweet husband, and the past is past. Until that is, a man not unlike Paddy Riley comes to their town. It's an 'opportunity' that Anita cannot, for the life of her, seem to resist.