SETTLE-based author Diane Allen's latest book The Yorkshire Farm Girl is a 'heartfelt novel of family, dreams and resilience'.

Set in 1939, deep in the Dales, the story follows the Fothergill family as they try to make a living on their farm. Bob Fothergill has set his sights on buying his own farm instead of renting the one they currently hold.

Sally, his teenage daughter, wishes her father would see that she could help more with the farm, but he believes that a girl's place is in the home. But when Bob decides to take a well-paid part time job, collecting milk for the local dairy, it causes friction in the family, bringing tension to New Year’s Day, 1939.

At the same time, Germany is shaking its angry fist at other nations and the threat of another war undermines everything. The future is uncertain, but perhaps the coming years could bring better times. But will the Fothergills survive the oncoming storm?

Diane Allen was born in Leeds, but raised at her family’s farm in the Yorkshire Dales. After working as a glass engraver, raising a family and looking after an ill father, she found her true niche in life, joining a large-print publishing firm in 1990.

She now concentrates on her writing full time, and is Honorary Vice President of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Diane's novels include Daughter of the Dales, The Miner's Wife and A Precious Daughter.

Diane and her husband Ronnie live in Settle, and have two children and four grandchildren.

It is published by Pan and is priced £7.99