Margaret Thornton was born 21 June 1934 in a boarding house on Pleasant Street, Blackpool and lived in the town all her life. She had two children and five grandchildren, and was a qualified teacher at Grange Park, Mereside and Devonshire Road (background image) junior schools. She left teaching in her early 50s in order to concentrate on her writing and wrote short stories before turning her hand to full-length novels with her debut, It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow, in 1992. Her son got her a computer but she only used it as a word processor and didn’t use it to go online or for email. Most would agree her work was influenced by her memories of dancing and growing up during the war. Sadly, Margaret passed away in 2022 at age 88. Her Blackpool sagas are available from Headline and have been highly praised.
She wrote two series: Yorkshire Sagas and Northern Lives, each with three books.
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She also wrote 22 novels between 1992 and 2019, one of which sticks out for those who really know Blackpool.
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The background image shows Devonshire Road School as it is today. This new building replaced the previous, which burned down in 2003.
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Background Image © Deeper Blue Marketing & Design Ltd
Text source: Blackpool Gazette’s website Fantastic Fiction's website
