Bad Girls, Good Women by Rosie Thomas

In London, on the brink of the Sixties, two runaways plunge into the whirl of Soho nightlife.

Mattie faces the hard slog of repertory companies and a sleazy strip-club in search of fame as an actress. But, when it comes, stardom is not enough, and the love that Mattie desires seems to elude her.
Julia choose marriage and Ladyhill, a beautiful Dorset manor house. Then, after the tragedy, she realises that to achieve true independence she will have to risk her marriage and her child.
Though each has to make her own choices, their friendship - despite the guilt and betrayal - endures over three turbulent decades.