Flaming Nora

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.  Don't forget to sign up to my monthly newsletter to be the first to hear about new competitions, giveaways, events, news and special ...

Enter to win a signed hardback copy of Celebrations at the Toffee Factory, along with a box of mixed toffees from Walkers NonSuch Toffee. Deadline for entries is Friday 27 February 2026 at 5pm. Good luck. UK entries only.   Loading… __ Glenda Young BlueSky:  @Glenda Young Facebook:  GlendaYoungAuthor Website:  GlendaYoungBooks.com

Join me at Cheshire Crime Writers Festival. I'll be speaking on Sunday 8th Feb all about my cosy crimes.  I'll be on a cosy crime panel with Northeast cosy crime author Fiona Veitch Smith.   Tickets and all details: https://thecuriouscatbookshop.co.uk/cheshire-crime-writers-festival/ __ Glenda Young BlueSky:  @Glenda Young Facebook:  GlendaYoungAuthor Website:  GlendaYoungBooks.com

This week I've a new competition for you to win a signed book. Enter here . And I've been very busy researching for my novel The Bakery Girls.  I've been looking at plans of old bakeries and this week have been to the Tyne and Wear archives in the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. The gorgeous building was once the home of the NE HQ of the Co-op. I've also been going further back in the history of Sunderland pink slice cake and baked this from a 1923 Bero baking book. Was it pink slice as we know it? Find out here where I blogged all about it . More research this week at Sunderland University library. As an alumni member of the University, I get free access to the library. What a wonderful view from my research desk. And I visited The Story in Durham, another fantastic place, to investigate women who owned bakeries. And I'm overjoyed to announce that I have a short story called Dead Meat chosen to be included in the Crime Writers Association anthology of short stories ...

I'm in the midst of researching my next historical saga, which will be called The Bakery Girls . As the title suggests, it's set in a bakery and I'm knee deep in bread and cakes. It's not a bad place to be.  The novel will include the fictional birth of a Sunderland local delicacy, the pink slice cake.  And so, I've been baking pink slice. For those outside the area wanting to know what pink slice is, it's two layers of shortbread with jam in the middle and if that's not enough sugar and fat for you, it's got pink icing on top.  It looks like this, taken from the wonderful Mackem CewkBook .  And it tastes amazing. I've already baked pink slice using the recipe from the Mackem Cewkbook and my pink slice came out looking like this. They were delicious and once you start eating it, you can't stop. Really easy to make too. I highly recommend the recipe in the Mackem CewkBook But where did pink slice originally come from?  A quick search online sugges...

Proud and honoured to announce that I have a short story in this year's anthology published by the Crime Writers Association.  My story is called Dead Meat  and it's very unlike anything I've written for publication.  It's certainly not a historical saga, and the crime is anything but cosy. Guilty Secrets will be published by the CWA in July this year and you can order it here.

This has been a really interesting week.   I had the best Monday morning with the ladies at WHiST (Women's Health in South Tyneside) at SALUS house. What an inspirational place! Thank you for having me. On Tuesday I spoke to the real Bakery Girls as research for my new book!  I heard some wonderful stories from the world of bread, cakes - and determined women - which will help bring my characters to life. On Wednesday, I travelled to London and spent the afternoon in the British Museum.  I was in London for a meeting with my agent and publisher to discuss publicity for the third and final Toffee Factory Girls book coming out this year - it's called Celebrations at the Toffee Factory. While in London, still with my Bakery Girls research hat on, I visited Fleet Street to see the ghost sign of the Aerated Bread Company. What a treat. And I'm delighted to say I'm giving two library talks as part of this year's County Durham Libraries Festival of Local Authors. The even...

Happy New Year and what a start to the year it's been.  Since my last writing week post, I've signed a new contract with my publisher Headline to write three more Sunderland sagas. One of the sagas will be called The Bakery Girls, which I'm now researching. It'll include the fictional birth of Sunderland's pink slice cake. News of this reached The Sunderland Echo, read it all here .  I even made front page news! Using the pink slice recipe from the Mackem CewkBook, I made my very first pink slice. And it went down a treat. Shortbread, jam, shortbread and icing. What's not to love? I've a new competition for the new year. Enter to win a signed book here. I also sent out my author newsletter for January. You can sign up to receive my newsletters here  and be first to know about new deals, competitions, and exciting news. This month my saga The Toffee Factory Girls is on sale for just 99p. Download it here. And there's a very special event coming up in Marc...