Coronation Street Weekly Update, July 25 2020

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

And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please), you can donate here
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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline


Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Cosy crime short story in My Weekly 2021 annual

Very proud and happy to report I've a short story in the My Weekly Annual 2021.

The story is a cosy crime with a wickedly satisfying ending. 

The annual is on sale now in all good book shops and online and at the DC Thomson shop.


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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Yours truly in the final - Distinct Nostalgia Mind of the Month

I made it through to the final of the Mind of the Month Quiz with Distinct Nostalgia. But did I win? 

Listen it to find out!

It's here.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Coronation Street Weekly Update, July 18 2020

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

And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please), you can donate here

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

New video: My novels set in Ryhope in 1919

Really chuffed with myself. Just made a little video all about my books.

Take a look below, it's only 1 minute long


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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Coronation Street Weekly Update, July 11 2020

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

And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please), you can donate here

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

My writing year so far - halfway through 2020

Half of a year is a milestone and time to look back at my writing year so far.  It's important to me to write these blog posts as a reminder of what I've done as I tend to take my skills for granted. And also, if I don't make a song and dance about my achievements, no-one else will. Have trumpet, will blow!

And so, here we go.  As well as all of the achievements listed below, each week I write my soap opera Riverside  for The People's Friend magazine. I've also regularly written short stories which have been published in women's magazines including The People's Friend and The People's Friend Fiction Special, My Weekly and Take a Break's Fiction Feast.

I also blog daily for the Coronation Street Blog where I edit a team of 16 bloggers and during lockdown have been engaging with fans more than ever. I set up a twice-daily quiz for Corrie fans to join in with at the Coronation Street Blog Twitter @CoroStreetBlog, set up daily Coronation Street A-Z fun posts and Coronation Street By Numbers fun posts for Corrie fans to join in with at the Coronation Street Blog Twitter @CoroStreetBlog, continued to write Coronation Street weekly updates for my mailing list of almost 2,000 Corrie fans  and regularly updated my Coronation Street fan website corrie.net.

Also, during lockdown I donated a box of my novels set in Ryhope 1919 to Ryhope St. Paul's church for distribution to those self-isolating and donated a box of my novels to a local NHS hospital ward. 

As for writing achievements this year so far, here we go!

Interviewed on the Women's Magazine Writers Blog.

Sharon Marshall, soaps queen at ITV's This Morning, said my novels were 'amazing'

I was featured in The Guardian - Corrie changed my life!

Interviewed on BBC Radio Newcastle about my novel Pearl of Pit Lane.

Full-page feature about my novels in The Northern Echo.

March (before lockdown)

Pearl of Pit Lane was published in paperback on March 7, World Book Day

Visited Ryhope St. Paul's CE School to talk to each class about my novels set in Ryhope. This was March 7, World Book Day. I dressed up as Meg from my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets.

Pearl of Pit Lane book launch at Waterstone's, Sunderland

Pearl of Pit Lane book launch at National Glass Centre, Sunderland

Interviewed on SUN FM radio about my novel Pearl of Pit Lane.

March (after lockdown)

Coronavirus caused all my author events to be cancelled - so this is what I did instead

Was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour about my gritty novels set in a northeast coalmining village in 1919.  Jane Garvey said I was 'Such a good writer; fantastic' and my novels were 'Real sagas with female characters right at the heart'.

Wrote my 6th novel for Headline, set in the coalmining village of Ryhope, where I was born and bred, and set in 1919

Worked with Ryhope Florists to offer my Ryhope-set novels with their bouquets for Mother's Day, which proved hugely popular.

Reading my novels was listed in my local newspaper The Sunderland Echo as one of the  most mackem things to do during lockdown

Featured on the FemaleFirst website with 5 things I want my reader to know and 5 things I don't

Interviewed by The Guardian about writing in lockdown.

Won the Evesham Festival of Words Short Story Award 2020 with my short story The Fan Club Man.

Was featured in my local newspaper The Sunderland Echo in my pinny.

My Weekly magazine celebrated their 110th anniversary and I was given a special mention.

Set up my YouTube channel and, gulp, recorded myself speaking about my books.

Was asked by two local libraries to record online author talks to replace the talks I was due to give this summer. 

Had two short stories longlisted, one in the University of Essex prize and one in the Limnisa prize.

Was interviewed online by TripFiction website about place and setting for my novels.

Invited to be the featured author on Saturday Book Chat.

And so here's to the next six months and all it may bring!


You might like to take a look back at my year in writing for last year, 2019

And here's a list of all the PRESS AND NEWS items I'm featured in this year. As well as all of the EVENTS I took part in this year too - in real life and online.
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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Putting the fun into funiculars

I'm this month's Author in the Spotlight with Evesham Festival of Words.

If you'd like to find out about my love of going up - and down - in a funicular all around the world, you can read it all here.

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

5 Locations in Belle of the Back Streets

Would you like to know more about the locations I use in my novels? I hope that if you read the book, or if you've read it already, that these pictures might give some context and background and add a bit of depth to the locations I've written about.

Belle of the Back Streets is available now in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook and you can buy it here 

Here we go with my top 5 favourite locations in  

Albion Inn

The Albion Inn is where Sally Sutcliffe works in Belle of the Back Streets.  Sally is Meg's mam and Meg is the heroine of this book, our belle of Ryhope's streets. I created fictional Hetty and Jack Burdon to run the Albion Inn and loved the character of Hetty so much that I brought her back for almost all of my other novels where she appears as a background character. My books aren't a series, they're stand alone and can be read in any order, but some background characters like Hetty Burdon and local gossip Lil Mahone, were too good to put away and so they return every now and then. 

The Albion Inn in Ryhope still exists, although looks very different to the picture above. It's where I had the book launch for Belle of the Back Streets and it was standing room only.  

You can read all about my book launch here and see some great pictures too.

The rhubarb field

A question I'm asked often about Belle of the Back Streets is 'Where was the rhubarb field?' - and it's a question that came up often in the walking tour around Ryhope that me and my friend Paul Lanagan led last year as part of Local History Month. 

You can read all about the guided walk around Ryhope here and see some pics too.

Well, the rhubarb field was owned by Ryhope and Silksworth Co-operative Society Ltd, or the Co-op for short, or 'the store' as everyone in Ryhope called it. This picture above shows the rhubarb field on the corner of Nelson Street and in the distance that big building was Nelson Street infants and juniors school. It's the school I went to, the school my mam worked at as a dinner lady and she'd bring pink custard home in a jug for dessert for us kids at home when there was some going spare.

The coal mine

Belle of the Back Streets was my debut novel and Ryhope Coal Company and the coal mine appear for the very first time in a novel. The pit was Ryhope's lifeblood. Over 2,500 men and boys were employed there at its peak in the 1930s. It opened in the 1860s and closed in the 1960s. Ryhope had over 14 pubs running down the colliery and into the village. Mining and farming were thirsty work.

East End Market

In Belle of the Back Streets, the heroine Meg takes on her dad's rag and bone round. She spends a lot of time at the old market in the heart of Sunderland's East End. It's fair to say, the East End was a bit rough and ready back in 1919 and Meg had a lot on her hands when she went to the market to try to sell her wares.

Hendon Paper Mill

Another place Meg went to sell her collected rags was the paper mill at Hendon. I was fascinated by my research into paper mills and my fifth novel, to be published in hardback, audiobook an ebook in November 2020 will be called The Paper Mill Girl, 

Belle of the Back Streets is available now in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook and you can buy it here 

And if you'd like to find out more about locations in my Ryhope-set novels, here you go: 

•  Locations in The Sixpenny Orphan
• 5 Locations in A Mother's Christmas Wish
• 5 Locations in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon
• 5 Locations in Pearl of Pit Lane
• 5 Locations in The Tuppenny Child
• 5 Locations in The Miner's Lass
• 5 Locations in The Paper Mill Girl

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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

5 Locations in The Tuppenny Child

Would you like to know more about the locations I use in my novels? I hope that if you read the book, or if you've read it already, that these pictures might give some context and background and add a bit of depth to the locations I've written about.

The Tuppenny Child is available now in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook and you can buy it here

Here we go with my top 5 favourite locations in The Tuppenny Child   

Ryhope East Railway Station

Ryhope used to have two railway stations; Ryhope and Ryhope East. And it's the railway that brings the heroine of The Tuppenny Child to Ryhope. Sadie Linthorpe escapes a violent life in Hartlepool and arrives at Ryhope East train station alone, with no money. She knows no-one in the village. It's pouring down with rain when she arrives... and her new life and adventure begins.

The Railway Inn

The Railway Inn is one of two Ryhope pubs that feature in The Tuppenny Child.  I was lucky enough to find the original floor plans for The Railway Inn when I was researching at Durham County Records office and discovered there were stables at the back of the pub. The pub plays a starring role in The Tuppenny Child and it's run by a woman, as a lot of pubs in Ryhope were, back in those days. I have Sunderland Antiquarian Ron Lawson's books to thank for a lot of the research on the pubs in 1919.

Ryhope Hall 

In The Tuppenny Child  Ryhope Hall is the inspiration for Ryhope Grange, where a family of some importance live. I don't want to give away any spoilers here so can't say too much about why I've included this in the book. Ryhope Hall no longer exists, burned to the ground in the 1950s. A row of houses stands in its place looking onto the village green.

The Forester's Arms

The Forester's Arms is the second of two Ryhope pubs which play a huge role in The Tuppenny Child.  The pub is also the scene of my favourite chapter in the book, where the Women's Christmas is held.

Hartlepool 

Although The Tuppenny Child is set in Ryhope, some of the action is set in Hartlepool too. I highly recommend a visit to Hartlepool headland and if you go there, follow the historic trail, it's really interesting.

The Tuppenny Child is available now in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook and you can buy it here 

And if you'd like to find out more about locations in my Ryhope-set novels, here you go: 

•  5 Locations in The Sixpenny Orphan
• 5 Locations in A Mother's Christmas Wish
• 5 Locations in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon
• 5 Locations in Pearl of Pit Lane
• 5 Locations in Belle of the Back Streets
• 5 Locations in The Paper Mill Girl
• 5 Locations in The Miner's Lass

Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

5 Locations in Pearl of Pit Lane

Would you like to know more about the locations I use in my novels? I hope that if you read the book, or if you've read it already, that these pictures might give some context and background and add a bit of depth to the locations I've written about.

Pearl of Pit Lane is available now in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook and you can buy it here or if you'd like a signed copy and some free bookmarks, you can order direct from me here.

Here we go with my top 5 favourite locations in Pearl of Pit Lane.

The Colliery Inn

The Colliery Inn is a Ryhope pub that always used to be the last pub on the colliery bank before Ryhope turned into Tunstall Bank and then Silksworth. And because the pub was at the top of the bank, it was nicknamed The Top House, the name by which it's now known.  The Colliery Inn plays a pivotal role in Pearl of Pit Lane for the main character Pearl and her aunt Annie. It is where landlord Bobby Mac grieves the death of his wife Ella and where Bobby's son arrives to take over the reins. But how does Bobby's life become entwined with that of Pearl and Annie's? You'll have to read the book to find out!

Watson's Grocers

I based Watson's Grocers on a tiny little shop called Straughan's which used to sit at the southern edge of Ryhope village green. Here it is in all its glory. When I was a child, and my family would head to the beach on a warm summer's day, we'd all pile into Straughan's en-route to stock up on lemonade, sandwiches and sweets. If I close my eyes I can conjur up the smell of the shop, a sweet and dense sherbet smell.  

I thought I had created Watson's Grocers in my mind, but when I was talking to Brian Ibinson, a member of Ryhope Heritage Society, he told me that there had been a grocers called Watson in the village. I was dumbfounded. I still don't know if I came up with Watson's Grocers because I must have read it somewhere and it had lodged in my sub-conscience or whether it was just a wonderful coincidence. 

Water Trough on Village Green

The water drinking trough on the village green was placed there for use by the horses, sheep and cows who grazed on the village green. It's still there to this day. And in Pearl of Pit Lane it plays an important role when Pearl runs away from her aunt Annie to try to make a new life for herself. But can she survive on her own?

St Paul's Church

St. Paul's church in Ryhope village features in all of my books set in Ryhope in 1919. In some books, the church is there to celebrate a wedding or christening, or to witness a funeral. But in Pearl of Pit Lane the church plays a different kind of role, that I won't spoil for you here. The vicar at the time I write my novels was Canon Knight and I've used his name as inspiration for my fictional vicar of Reverend Daye (Knight/Daye ...  Night/Day ... see what I did there?)

The Grand Electric Cinema

The Grand Electric Cinema was simply known as The Grand. It's still there, still in Ryhope, although it's now in the process of being moved brick by brick to be rebuilt at Beamish outdoor museum. In Pearl of Pit Lane the cinema plays an important role for Pearl's friend Joey, a character I adored writing and one I'd like to bring back to a future novel.

You might also like to read my blog post Prostitutes and Proggy Mats in Pearl of Pit Lane

And if you'd like to find out more about locations in my Ryhope-set novels, here you go: 

• 5 Locations in The Sixpenny Orphan
• 5 Locations in A Mother's Christmas Wish
• 5 Locations in The Paper Mill Girl
• 5 Locations in The Miner's Lass
• 5 Locations in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon
• 5 Locations in The Tuppenny Child
• 5 Locations in Belle of the Back Street

Pearl of Pit Lane is available now in paperback, hardback, e-book and audiobook and you can buy it here or if you'd like a signed copy and some free bookmarks, you can order direct from me here.
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Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

5 Locations in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon

Would you like to know more about the locations I use in my novels? I hope that if you read the book, or if you've read it already, that these pictures might give some context and background and add a bit of depth to the locations I've written about.

Here we go with my top 5 favourite locations in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon. 

The book is available now in e-book and audiobook. The paperback is out on October 1st 2020. During July 2020 the e-book is available for just 99p, download it here.

The Uplands

The Uplands is the family home of the ruthless McNally family.  I based the Uplands on a beautiful building in Ryhope called the Wilderness. It's a gorgeous building in Ryhope village, tucked away in Church Ward. 

The picture at the top of this blog post shows the front door of the Uplands where a baby is left in a basket. A scarlet ribbon is tied to the basket's handle. And so begins the adventure of The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon!

Grand Hotel, Scarborough

Action in the book ranges from the coal mining community of Ryhope to the seaside town of Scarborough in Yorkshire. The Grand Hotel in Scarborough was one of Europe's finest and largest hotels when it was first built. Much of its splendour can still be seen to this day, although it's fair to say the hotel has now seen better days.  When in Scarborough, do call in to have a wander about.

The staff at the hotel helped me with my research for The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon and gave me a guided tour.  In my book, the hotel plays a pivotal role for James McNally.

Victoria Hall, Sunderland

Sunderland's Victoria Hall no longer exists but it leaves behind a heartbreaking tale that changed the law of the land in the UK.  Its legacy is known to everyone in Sunderland and should never be forgotten. In 1883, 2,000 children attended a variety show. When it was announced that presents would be given out on stage, children in the upper balcony rushed down the stairs but became caught on a door which opened inward onto the staircase and was bolted. Only one child could get through at a time. In the resulting crush, 183 children aged between four and 14 died. This led to national safety legislation for entertainment venues, later being recognised as one of the first examples of Health and Safety legislation. The restored Victoria Hall Disaster Memorial stands in Mowbray Park as a memorial of the tragedy. I can't walk through the park without making a detour to visit the memorial, a mother with a dying child in her arms.

After the disaster, Victoria Hall remained open to the public and continued to host plays and performances.  I wanted to include Victoria Hall in my book so that it wasn't forgotten. The characters discuss the children who died there and the disaster that took place. In The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon, Victoria Hall is where a very important plot point happens, on stage, a very dramatic moment that turns the book around.

St Paul's Terrace

This street does still exist in Ryhope to this day, but it looks very different indeed with different houses standing where those in the picture are.  In The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon, St. Paul's Terrace plays a very important role for the heroine of the book (no spoilers!) and I can't say any more than that.

Ryhope Beach

The beach at Ryhope is fringed by cliffs and when the tide's in, the waves crash at the cliffs, creating caves at the base of the cliffs. Ryhope beach features in all of my books, whether it's a romantic liaison in the caves, a day playing in the sea, or danger on the cliff tops. However, in The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon Ryhope Beach plays a starring role in a very dramatic and dangerous way, much more so than in any of my other books.

The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon is available now in e-book and audiobook. The paperback is out on October 1st 2020. During July 2020 the e-book is available for just 99p, download it here.

And if you'd like to find out more about locations in my Ryhope-set novels, here you go: 

• 5 Locations in The Sixpenny Orphan
• 5 Locations in A Mother's Christmas Wish
• 5 Locations in Pearl of Pit Lane
• 5 Locations in The Tuppenny Child 
• 5 Locations in Belle of the Back Streets
• 5 Locations in The Paper Mill Girl
• 5 Locations in The Miner's Lass

Glenda Young
Author of historical novels with Headline
Twitter: @Flaming_Nora
Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor