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For a brief introduction to any of Margaret
Dickinson's novels please click on the relevant cover picture Margaret Dickinson's new novel
Read the Reviews THE RIVER FOLK “This is another of those compulsive page-turners which have become her speciality and her steadily growing legion of admirers will certainly not be disappointed” – Skegness Standard 2001
RED SKY IN THE MORNING “Lincolnshire’s answer to Catherine Cookson” – Grimsby Telegraph 2004
WITHOUT SIN “Her novels bring to life her love of the Lincolnshire landscape” – Lincolnshire Echo 2005
PAUPER’S GOLD “Readers will enjoy a satisfying outcome at the culmination of a read that rather begs a sequel” – Peak Advertiser 2006
WISH ME LUCK “Full of inspirational characters and a storyline that will have you hooked Wish Me Luck is a novel that you won’t be able to put down. You will find yourself taken back in time to the precarious days of wartime Britain with the novel being yet another triumph for Margaret” – Lincolnshire Focus 2007
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Born
in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Margaret Dickinson has spent most of her life
in the county, moving to the East Coast from Nottinghamshire at the age of
seven. She began writing at the
age of fourteen with the ambition to be in print
and her first novel was published in 1968 when she was twenty-six. Seven others followed this between
1969 and 1984 but then, because of family commitments, Margaret was unable to
write for seven years. In 1991,
encouraged by her husband to begin writing again, Margaret had that little
piece of luck that everyone needs - she found a wonderful agent, Darley
Anderson, who advised her to write a regional saga with a strong woman as the
central character. In
1993 Pan Macmillan offered a two-book contract for Plough the Furrow, the first in the Fleethaven Trilogy, and its
sequel, Sow the Seed, which were
published in 1994 and 1995 respectively. It seemed as if Margaret had found her niche; writing
romantic fiction and bringing to life her love of the sea, the Lincolnshire
landscape and its people. Reap the Harvest, published in 1996,
completed the trilogy. Church
Farm Museum at Skegness - a “living” museum - was the model for Brumbys’ Farm
and the setting was Gibraltar Point. In
1997 The Miller’s Daughter,
inspired by the windmill at Burgh-le-Marsh, near Skegness, was published and
in the following year Chaff Upon the
Wind took the Manor House at Alford as the setting for the characters in
the story. Grimsby was the
inspiration for The Fisher Lass,
evoking the dramas of those who are born to the fishing way of life and
described by the publishers as ‘...a love story as powerful and restless as
the mighty North Sea.’ This was
published in 1999. Spalding and
district was the setting for The Tulip
Girl published in August 2000 and The
River Folk, inspired by Margaret’s birthplace, Gainsborough, was
published on 22nd June 2001. Tangled Threads, a story with the
Nottinghamshire framework knitting and lace industries in the early 1900s as
the setting was published in May 2002 and its sequel in 2003, Twisted Strands, followed the lives of
the same characters affected by the Great War. Margaret’s novel for 2004, Red Sky in the Morning, returned to the Lincolnshire Wolds and
evoked the era of the Second World War and its aftermath. The
Workhouse Museum at Southwell in Nottinghamshire was the inspiration for Without Sin, published in April
2005. As always, Margaret’s
characters and storylines are completely fictitious, though the background
research at the museum was fascinating. Pauper’s Gold, published in April
2006, is an emotional story of love and survival, set in a Derbyshire cotton
mill and the silk town of Macclesfield. In the 1850s life was harsh for the
pauper apprentices, children taken from workhouses and bound to their masters
for years. And, with the onset
of the American civil war, a cotton famine caused greater hardship in the
mills of England. Wish Me Luck, published by Macmillan and Pan Books in April 2007, is set in Lincolnshire during World War II. The shout line on the book cover says it all: "Love and Laughter, Tears and Courage in a Time of War".
Sing As We Go, published in March 2008, again has the Second World War as its setting and is the story of a girl who, after tragedy and heartbreak, joins a concert party to entertain troops, hospitals and war workers. To
celebrate the Millennium, Margaret was invited by the Skegness Playgoers to
write a community play. Embracing Tides, featuring the life of
a fictional family throughout the twentieth century in Skegness, was staged
at the Embassy Theatre, Skegness, on 23rd, 24th and 25th November, 2000, and
also on 1st December as the Playgoers’ entry for that year’s Play
Festival. The production won
five of the Festival’s thirteen awards. Margaret still lives in Lincolnshire. She has been married to Dennis for over forty years and has two grown-up daughters and is now a proud Grannie.
Thank you for visiting my website Best wishes
Margaret Dickinson Margaret Dickinson's novels are published in paperback by
Pan Books
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