The Real Toffee Factory Which Inspired my Books by Glenda Young

Many years ago, I wrote my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets which was published by Headline. It’s about a young woman who takes on her dad’s rag and bone round after he returns from WW1.  She becomes responsible for looking after her family and faces hardship along the way, before I give her the happy ending she deserves. There’s a bit of romance along the way, but never too much to overwhelm the story. My heroines are always feisty, not fey.

Belle of the Back Streets is set in an ex-coalmining village in the north of England, and it’s where I grew up. I researched the village extensively, looking into my own history and heritage along the way. Sense of place is hugely important in my books and is an area I wrote about for Books by Women around my fourth novel The Girl with the Scarlet Ribbon. You can read the blog post here: https://booksbywomen.org/a-strong-sense-of-place

While researching the history of women in coalmining towns in the northeast of England for Belle of the Back Streets I became aware of Horner’s Toffee Factory in the northeast market town of Chester-le-Street in County Durham.  I didn’t read on this any further at the time because I wasn’t researching women working in factories, or the manufacture of confectionery. I was researching girls and women confined to the domestic sphere from mining families. Their lives revolved around cooking for and looking after the men in the families who worked down the mines. It was dangerous work that brought about a sense of strong community between the women at that time. My books are all about how women overcame hardships which I threw at them on every page. I throw everything and the kitchen sink at these poor girls but they always come out stronger in the end!

So when I discovered there was a toffee factory in the area I was researching, I didn’t read on. I was, however, struck by an image the factory once used to promote a brand of toffee called Dainty Dinah. I thought the name twee and the image curious. It was a picture of a woman in a bonnet which was tied under her chin with a bow. It was all a little too sweet for my liking, intent as I was at that time on researching the grit and drama of life in a coalmining village.  Those two words – Dainty Dinah – stayed with me and refused to leave. The woman in the bonnet wouldn’t leave either although I kept trying to throw her away. It was then that I knew, one day, that I’d write about a toffee factory and the women who worked there. I just didn’t know when.

After my debut Belle of the Back Streets was published, I wrote a further seven historical sagas for Headline. They’re all standalone books to be read in any order, but they are all set around the end of WW1 in the same village. Some background characters reappear throughout the books.  

I was about to write my ninth saga for Headline when lockdown hit and I turned to crime. Cosy crime. As I couldn’t leave the house to research, I travelled in my mind to my happy place of the seaside resort of Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast. I wrote a murder mystery book about a troupe of 12 Elvis impersonators, called Twelvis. They go to Scarborough for an Elvia fan convention but one of them ends up dead and has his blue suede shoes stolen. The book became Murder at the Seaview Hotel and went on to become the start of a series which Headline snapped up and published.  There are now five books in that series, and I’ve been writing cosy crimes and sagas since lockdown.  

When I could finally leave the house after lockdown ended, and go out to research, I decided to find out more about Dainty Dinah and write about the women who worked at the toffee factory.

To find out more, I worked with local historians and heritage groups. Everyone was hugely helpful and supportive. The heritage group allowed me to access their archive of pictures from the toffee factory, which in turn helped inspire my stories. From local groups I travelled to Yorkshire, to the town of Halifax, once the home of Mackintosh toffee and known locally as Toffee Town.  I discovered it was Mrs Violet Mackintosh who helped establish the Mackintosh toffee company with her husband, although of course he takes all the credit. But I have held in my hands Mrs Mackintosh’s original recipe book for toffee which began the factory.  Researching at York University Borthwick archives was a treat. Some of the books and records I used had pages that were stuck together with sugar, almost one hundred years since they’d been used. 

It’s been an incredible toffee-filled ride writing the trilogy of books which make up the toffee factory girls series. Start with The Toffee Factory Girls which begins as WW1 breaks out and women go to work for the first time. The second book is Secrets of the Toffee Factory Girls which takes place during WW1 when the factory is in danger of closing because of sugar rations. The trilogy ends with Celebrations at the Toffee Factory which is out in paperback with Headline on May 21, 2026. This celebrates the end of WW1 and the women’s work during the war.  I hope you really enjoy them all.

The Toffee Factory Trilogy

‘Real sagas with female characters right at the heart’ Woman’s Hour

‘Saga fiction at its best . . . I enjoyed it immensely’ VICKI BEEBY

‘A lovely read, full of highs, lows, friendship and foes’ JOHANNA BELL

Discover the engaging new trilogy from the author of The Sixpenny Orphan, about three women working in a WWI toffee factory in the North-East!

In 1915 three women start work at a toffee factory in the market town of Chester-le-Street, Durham.

Anne works for the enigmatic owner Mr Jack. She is highly efficient and whips Mr Jack’s disorganised office – and Mr Jack himself – into shape. However, behind her business-like façade, Anne hides a heart-breaking secret.

Elsie is feisty, fun and enjoys a good time. However, her gadabout ways get her into trouble when she falls for the wrong man in the sugar-boiling room.

And there’s dependable Hetty, who’s set to marry her boyfriend when he returns from the war. But when Hetty is sent on an errand by the toffee factory boss, her life changes in ways she could never imagine and a whole new world opens up.

The toffee factory girls begin as strangers before forging a close bond of friendship and trust. And, as the war rages on, they help each other cope through the difficult times ahead.

The Toffee Factory Girls is a heart-warming novel about love, friendship, secrets, war . . . and toffee! It is the first in a trilogy from hugely popular author Glenda Young – ‘such a good writer, she’s fantastic!’ Woman’s Hour

Praise for Glenda Young’s previous sagas:

‘A gripping saga’ People’s Friend

The toffee factory girls books are available at  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DC5V1ZM6

USA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DC5V1ZM6

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Glenda Young is a bestselling author, professionally published by Headline. Her cosy crimes were shortlisted with Richard Osman and Val McDermid for Best New Crime Series. She is an award-winning short story writer and one of six finalists in the coveted Clement and La Frenais Comedy Award.  Plus, Glenda is the creator of the first soap opera to appear in The People’s Friend, the world’s longest running women’s magazine.  Glenda has also been commissioned by ITV to write official  tie-In books for Coronation Street.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing