Author, born at and lived in Castleford until the age of 13.

"One of my earliest recollections was hearing the ring of the miners' clogs as they went up the hill for their early morning shift and then again a little later as those who had finished came down. There were no pithead baths then, and some of the men used to sit on their front steps in their blackened working clothes, smoking a rolled up cigarette whilst their wives filled the tin bath with hot water for their scrub down."

Valerie is married with two children and a grandchild. She won the first Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize with her novel 'The Hungry Tide'.

She frequently visits Castleford and supports the Friends of Castleford Library.

Novels:

Valerie's Home Page

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