Flaming Nora

It's been quite a week. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour about my love of writing and my books. You can listen to the interview here and find out more. Then my local paper The Sunderland Echo ran a feature on me and my books. You can read it here.  And then I very proudly revealed the cover to my novel number five, The Paper Mill Girl. You can see it in all its glory here. Onward!  I might be under lockdown but I'm not keeping quiet. I've learned the hard way that if I don't blow my own trumpet no one else will. It's hard work - very hard work - but I believe in my writing, my work and my books. And now it's back to writing my current work in progress, the as-yet untitled novel six for Headline. __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

When family members from up north come to stay in London, it's always a treat. Of course I love to see them. Of course I miss them. Of course it's great having them stay with us in the house and we can show them the sights. But the best bit of their visit is the stotty cake they bring. You just can't get it here in London and these soft, southern jessies don't have a clue what they're missing. Londoners can keep their fancy focaccia, give me a stotty every time. See also: The joy of stotty

Relatives visiting from up north have brought with them necessities for this Mackem down in London. First off are a few copies of The Sunderland Echo , essential reading, but better than that are a couple of stotty cakes from Greggs the Bakers. Pure delight. I've already got them in my lunchbox and they could just turn out to be the best thing about today. Just in case you don't know what a stotty cake is, and you'd like to know, you can find out more here.