Milly Johnson is the ‘Queen of Feelgood Fiction, with 18 bestselling novels and over two million sales worldwide amongst her many accolades.  Catching up with Milly during her whirlwind PR activity for latest book ‘The Woman in the Middle’ I was able to dig deep into the thinking behind this phenomenal success and discover how she remains so relatable and grounded.

· Gems from the interview include:

· How being told: ‘Oh, aren’t you ordinary!’ was the loveliest compliment she ever received.

· There’s no barrier between her writings and her readers as she sees and negotiates the world as an ordinary woman with kids and parents etc.

· That she’s a fan of Peter Kay and observational humour and brings this ordinary gift of observing people into the tapestry of her writing.

· Being unable to remember a time when she didn’t want to write, it took a while to find her authentic voice and write the kind of relatable books she loves to read.

· Once she tapped into her voice, how she drew on what she lived including the experience from her 20s of being fired from a job due to her Yorkshire accent and being told she was more suited to ‘the textile industry’ than selling luxury goods.

· Drawing on the coincidence of her being pregnant at the same time as two close friends led to her first book being published.  Other lightbulb real-life moments have led to books that draw on her divorce and throwing out clutter into a skip; cross-generational friendships and a woman caught ‘in the middle’ between her children and aging parents.

· That her books are dark and light, taking readers to the bottom of the of the well and then bouncing back stronger than they imagined possible.  This leads to great responsibility as so many of her fans have been woken up to the realities of their own lives.

· New ideas are always queuing up in her brain and when she starts to write it is like candy floss: when you put the stick into the machine the sugar of ideas starts to weave around it.

· Her parting shot: that no dream is too high and that if Mr. Spielberg would like to discuss the film rights to any of her books, she is available for his call.

Milly's website - http://www.millyjohnson.co.uk

Milly's books are available online and at major UK supermarkets

Twitter: @millyjohnson - https://twitter.com/millyjohnson

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