"Believable, memorable, richly detailed, action-packed"

I woke this morning to a review of my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets in The Fleetwood Weekly News. And it's just about made me cry.

Here is just a little bit of the review and you can read it in full at The Fleetwood Weekly News website.

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Paperback released March 7 2019 

Blog Tour announced for Belle of the Back Streets

I'm delighted to announce that my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets is going on a 'blog tour' beginning Monday 4th March.  The novel is released in paperback on Thursday 7th March and you can order it here if you'd like to.

Blog tours are a new thing for me. I'd never heard of them until a few months ago, but they sound a great idea for book bloggers to review books and share them online.  Hopefully, the book bloggers on the tour will enjoy Belle of the Back Streets - but I have to admit, I'm a little bit nervous of reading their reviews.

So far, Belle has received 65 x 5* reviews on Amazon and over 270 ratings on Goodreads, mainly 5* and 4*.  There are a few 3* reviews there, even 1* too.  It doesn't upset me to get a 'bad' review of one star, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it does make me curious. I want to know exactly why the reviewer didn't like it, I'm truly interested to find out and if anything I learn can help to make future books even stronger.

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Paperback released March 7 2019 

Stella and Spot - the animals in my novel Belle of the Back Streets

My debut novel Belle of the Back Streets is released on Thursday March 7th in paperback. It's a hugely special day for a paperback release, being World Book Day (as if I wasn't excited enough!).

The book stars a young girl called Meg who takes on her dad's rag and bone round in a northeast coal mining village in 1919. Of course, Meg doesn't do it on her own. She has a whole host of people helping - and hindering - her throughout the story.

She also has a horse and a dog. The horse is called Stella and the dog is called Spot. The book describes Spot as a skinny white dog, part Dalmatian and part something else, but no-one is sure quite what.

In honour of the animals in Belle of the Back Streets, twice a week after the release I'll be posting a picture of a dog to my social media profiles as follows:

Twitter: @flaming_nora
Instagram: @flaming_nora
Facebook Author Page: GlendaYoungAuthor

The pictures will be going live on Wednesday and Friday mornings with the hashtags #DogsOfTwitter  #DogsOfInstagram #BarkOfTheBackStreets and #BelleOfTheBackStreets.

Each dog picture is one that I've been given permission to use from friends, family members and people I know online.

The very special launch picture will be my good friend Lynn's assitance dog, who happens to be called Bella. Yup, you've guessed it. We'll be going from Belle of the Back Streets to Bella of the Back Streets for the first image.  Bella is an incredible dog and Lynn is an approved assistance dog trainer too. She has to spend time in a wheelchair and Bella helps around the house with various tasks, she even puts the washing in the machine, nudges Lynn to take her medication and does all kinds of fantastic things.

Here's Bella wearing her working clothes:

Lynn and Bella will be at Crufts this year, once again, supporting Assistance in Disability.

Please do follow them on Twitter: @BellaTrickDog and Facebook: BellaBlot and if you're going to Crufts, do call and see them, they'll love it!

The first #BarkOfTheBackStreets picture will be going live the morning of the book launch on Thursday March 7th with Bella as the star.

Then, from Wednesday March 13th there will be #BarkOfTheBackStreets pictures going live each Wednesday and Friday mornings at 10am. I hope you enjoy them all.

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Paperback released March 7 2019 

Corrie weekly update - Threats, Weasels and Lolly pops in

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street has just gone live here. 

This week in Coronation Street, Roy and Carla knocked everyone else for six.

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Paperback released March 7 2019 

Corrie weekly update - Fire, Fights, Friends and The F Word

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street has just gone live here. 

This week in Coronation Street, Peter's dreams of leaving Weatherfield went up in flames. 

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Paperback released March 7 2019 

Website: glendayoungbooks.com

Pearl of Pit Lane

I'm very proud to announce the title - and details - of my third novel with Headline.

The novel is Pearl of Pit Lane, about a young girl who tries to escape a life of living on the streets in a northeast coalmining village in 1919.

You can read all about it here.

Pearl of Pit Lane will be released in hardback, audio and ebook in November 2019 and in paperback in March 2020.

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Paperback released March 7 2019 

Website: glendayoungbooks.com

Competition: Win BELLE OF THE BACK STREETS

My local newspaper, The Sunderland Echo, are currently running a competition to win one of two hardback copies of BELLE OF THE BACK STREETS.

The link to the competition isn't online, as you'll need to buy the Sunderland Echo to be able to collect tokens to enter the competition. 

Good luck!

 

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Pre-order paperback, released March 7 2019 

Kindle e-book just £1.99 

Website: glendayoungbooks.com

Book signing at Waterstone's Middlesbrough

I'm going to be in Waterstones Middlesbrough signing copies of the paperback version of BELLE OF THE BACK STREETS - and you're invited to come along.  

It's Saturday March 23 from 1pm to 3pm.

If you can't make it to my book signing but would like to perhaps come along to the book launch or a talk I'm giving on the book or come to my book signing, all my events are listed on my website here. 

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Pre-order paperback, released March 7 2019 

Kindle e-book just £1.99 

Website: glendayoungbooks.com

A magical visit to my old Junior School

Last week I had the privilege of being invited in to my old Junior School at Ryhope.  The school has revamped and renovated its library and I was given the honour of opening the new library space. I felt like a rock star! There was a ribbon to cut and everything. It was a very special day. 

Not only that, but all nine classes, of approx. 20 children in each one, came into the library to meet me and to hear how I became an author.  

Now then, I'm still very much finding my feet with talks and what-nots, they're still terrifying to me. So what was I to make of giving not one, but nine seperate talks to children aged from 7 to 11 in one single day? Well, it wasn't easy. I was as nervous giving my last talk as I was giving the first.

But I needn't have worried.

The children were impeccably behaved. Not only that, they asked some fantastic questions, they really did want to know how to become a writer, how to make a story work and what my favourite books were. And at the end of each talk to each class, the children queued up and asked for my autograph. I had to bite back the lump in my throat as I signed each one, I was genuinely touched by their reactions.  Two children even brought in a copy of my book Belle of the Back Streets so that I could sign it for their nanas and one of the teachers brought her book in for me to sign too. It was a very emotional day.

And then at the end of each talk, one or two children hung back to talk to me in private. As their classmates left the room they hurried back to tell me, in a hushed voice, that I had inspired them to write.  That lump in my throat I was telling you about earlier? Yes, I almost ended up blubbing in front of them all.

One very special question I was asked by a young boy was this: "If you write the story of your life would today's visit to our school feature in it? Would we all feature in it?"

Well, I think you can guess the answer to that one. It was one of the most incredible days I've ever had and one I will never, ever forget.

My thanks go to the School Head Mrs Lynn, all the teachers and especially all of the children at Ryhope Juniors for making the day so wonderful.

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Debut novel Belle of the Back Streets

Now out in hardback, audiobook and e-book

Pre-order paperback, released March 7 2019 

Kindle e-book just £1.99 

Website: glendayoungbooks.com