Grandmother signs £300,000 book deal

A grandmother has won a £300,000 book deal for a gangster novel she wrote while living in a condemned council house.

Sheila Quigley's story of criminal culture in the North-east was bought by Random House and is being described as "a thrilling literary debut".

Mrs Quigley, 55, wroteRun For Home in her spare bedroom while babysitting her grandchildren. Her home on the Homelands estate of Houghton le Spring, near Sunderland, is due to be demolished next year.

The novel is to be published next year and a deal for a sequel has been signed. Mrs Quigley is now working on her third novel. She has come to literary stardom late, causing some to compare her to Mary Wesley, the novelist who found fame at the age of 70.

But Mrs Quigley's background – and novels – are far harsher than those of the middle-class novelist. She left school at 15 with no qualifications to work in a factory. But she loved writing, and after sending a film script to a literary agent two years ago, was encouraged to write a novel. Despite her new-found wealth, she is determined to stay in Houghton le Spring.

She said: "I think I just got better as I got older. Year by year I got more ideas and more confidence."