WHEN writer Josephine Cox comes to Bolton next Friday she will delight many local fans of her Northern sagas.

But, not all will realise that her own early life was as dramatic as any of her novels.

In fact, her story is now told in her latest book "Child of the North", with Piers Dudgeon (published on October 18 by Headline at £18.99).

She will be sharing her memories, however, with fans from the Bolton area at the lecture theatre in Bolton Central Library at 3.30pm.

And her life in Blackburn will certainly mirror many in the Bolton area of the time.

She was born during Blackburn's decline as a major force in the textile industry, and life was hard. Jo was one of 10 children and knew poverty, hunger and the charity of the Ragged School.

Between births, her mother worked in the cotton mills and her father on the roads. Jo slept as one of six in a bed "three top, three bottom", in the tightly-packed working-class terraces of this typical Northern town.

In spite of the hardship, Jo felt love and "a sense of belonging" there. All of this changed, though, when her mother, at the end of her tether, left her father, taking the children along with her when Jo was 14.

This lovely book chronicles her life and feelings and will strike many chords with people in the Bolton area. There is also a wealth of evocative pictures to stir the memories and graphically illustrate Northern life and times.

Anyone who would like to find out more can get tickets, free, for Josephine Cox's visit, from the Central Library Information Desk (tel 01204-333173). But hurry. . . we suspect they will rapidly disappear! LITERARY FAVOURITE: Josephine Cox comes to Bolton next week CHILD OF THE NORTH: The story of Josephine Cox's life in nearby Blackburn