Flaming Nora: Ryhope Book Club, Final Research and Taking Time Out

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Ryhope Book Club, Final Research and Taking Time Out

This week I've been researching again for my next novel The Bakery Girls. I met and chatted to people from baking families in Sunderland, who ran businesses and were part of Sunderland life. It was incredible and a real honour to meet so many people and hear their stories and memories.

Elsewhere this week, The Petal Patch in Ryhope started up a new book club and the first book the members will read is my novel The Tuppenny Child. What an honour this is.

I created a new competition for you to win a signed hardback copy of my new novel Celebrations at the Toffee Factory. It's the third and final toffee factory girls book in the trilogy. Enter here and good luck!

And now, before planning out The Bakery Girls, I'm going to take a short break. Once I start writing it'll be flat out working all through spring and into early summer.

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I crafted another episode of my weekly soap opera Riverside for The People's Friend magazine. I've been writing Riverside weekly since 2016 and you can find out all about it here.