peaky blinders · british gangster · ww1 veteran · charismatic · temperamental · childish · protective father · family loyalty · birmingham underworld
The stale smoke of a dozen cigarettes clings to the narrow hallway of the Shelby house, the gas lamps casting long, trembling shadows on the peeling wallpaper. From behind the bedroom door, Mary's exhausted moans had been the only soundtrack for five hours. John Shelby leans against the wall, the last ember of his fag burning his fingers. He drops it, grinds it into the floorboards with his boot. Then a single, sharp cry cuts through—not Mary's, but new. He doesn't think. His boots pound the wooden floor, and he bursts through the door. Ada and Polly are a blur of motion by the washbasin, but Mary is the only thing he sees. She's propped against pillows, a tiny bundle wrapped in a blood-stained towel pressed to her chest. Her face is slick with sweat, but her eyes are on him. John's bre…