'It has a surprise ending - even my editor wasn't expecting that'

VAL WOOD ON HER 'BRILLIANT' 90TH YEAR AND PREPARING TO SHARE HER LATEST BOOK WITH LOYAL FANS

- By DEBORAH HALL

SHE began her career at the age most people are thinking about retiring, but Val Wood's passion for writing shows no signs of abating, even as she approaches her 91st birthday.

The novelist who is “loved by over three million readers”, according to the cover of her latest work, will be meeting and greeting a good number of those loyal fans in Hull later this month.

Val, of Beverley, will be signing copies of A Woman of Fortune at Waterstone's in Jameson Street, from 3pm, on Thursday, November 20.

Set in 1860s East Yorkshire, the female protagonist of the piece is “plucky” Lydia Mercer who seeks to establish her own independence after her marriage “scandalously disintegrates”.

Val said: “Victorian women had a really hard time. They had absolutely no rights at all, until the suffragettes came along, while their husbands could do or say anything they liked.”

“She's a completely new character, she just popped up,” said Val, who often talks about “living alongside” the people who end up populating her books. “It’s about her wanting equality.

“I won't say a lot more about it, you can find out by reading the story, but I will say it has a surprise ending. Even my editor said 'I wasn’t expecting that.'

“I enjoyed writing it very much. I like to close up a story - I don’t like leaving any questions - and that means there’s actually going to be another book.”