The Storyteller

Nice Yorkshire people are the staple of Milly Johnson’s best selling books

- Bethan Hyatt

‘My characters are portraits of little bits of people. Nice Yorkshire people, and certainly nice Yorkshire women, are a lot gentler than the stereotype might suggest.’ Milly Johnson should know. For the bestselling romantic fiction author, who is Barnsley born and bred, has made a career writing about the lives and loves of women from Yorkshire.

Her 17th novel, My One True North, is published at the beginning of March and we meet at one of her favourite haunts, The Potting Shed in Silkstone, to discuss it over slabs of Victoria sponge and a pot of tea – Yorkshire, naturally. The book follows Laurie and Pete, whose partners have both been killed in a car accident, as they come to terms with their grief and uncover some hidden truths. ‘I usually have a female protagonist, but sometimes you set yourself little challenges and this time I wanted a story with a parallel between a man and a woman,’ says Milly. ‘That led me to think what would be the reason for them to meet, and then I thought, like you do, multi pile-up car accident!’