SOMETIMES life is all about timing and Yorkshire-born author Jane Sanderson was spot on with her debut novel.

Former journalist Jane, 50, was looking for a publisher just when the nation was gripped by the historical TV drama Downton Abbey.

Jane’s novel Netherwood was set in Yorkshire’s close-knit mining community in the early 20th century.

With ratings soaring for the Downton Abbey, publishers were clamouring to cash in on drama from that era.

As a result, mum-of-three Jane was able to secure a publishing deal and her career as a novelist was launched.

Jane is one of the speakers at the Yorkshire-themed Examiner Literary Luncheon next month.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to Downton Abbey,” said Jane.

“But that has dogged me ever since! My novel is about a working class mining community, it’s not like Downton Abbey at all.”

Netherwood is a tale inspired by Jane’s childhood growing up in the pit village of Hoyland near Barnsley.

Her first six years were spent in a three-up two-down terraced house with an outside toilet and tin bath.

Her heroine is mining widow Eve Williams, who is forced by circumstance to cook and sell her food to make ends meet.

Set in 1903, it captures the dramas of a turbulent period in industrial history.

Eve is loosely based on Jane’s widowed grandmother Nellie Sanderson, who served up some plain and wholesome food as Jane was growing up.

“My grandma saved me and my sister from school dinners and we went to her house every day for lunch.

“Her hash and Yorkshire puddings still live with me today.”

But would her grandma have approved of her entrepreneurial alter ego?

“She’d have thought it silly,” said Jane. “Who would have bought her food? Everyone made their own.”

Jane left Yorkshire when she went to read English at Leicester University.

She later landed her first job as a journalist on the less-than-glamorous Hardware Trade Journal in Kent before moving into newspapers.

She became a producer for BBC’s Woman’s Hour before leaving to become a full-time mum and bring up her children, Eleanor, now 19, Joseph, 17, and Jacob, 14.

Now living in rural Herefordshire with journalist husband Brian Viner, she is a full-time writer.

“I always enjoyed writing but considered sitting down and writing a novel an indulgence,” she said.

Her first attempt failed to find a publisher but, thanks to the Downton Abbey effect, she struck with Netherwood.

“If my second novel had failed I don’t think I would have carried on,” admitted Jane.

“I speak to some authors who have written eight, nine or 10 before getting one published. I admire them but I wouldn’t have had the stamina.

“I’m lucky Netherwood was picked up very quickly.”

Netherwood has sold about 30,000 copies, a success by most standards.

But Jane compared it to the publishing phenomena Fifty Shades Of Grey.

“Fifty Shades probably sells what I’ve sold in half-an-hour,” she said. “Maybe I need more sex in and fewer pies.”

Sex isn’t prevalent in Jane’s sequel, Ravenscliffe, published on September 27.

Eve is still the central character, but life has moved on and she is now a successful businesswoman. Politics also spins a complex web.

Jane is now working on her third novel Eden Falls, a title loved by her publishers.

Jane admits she is easily distracted from her writing – playing Tetris on her phone or chasing an escaped chicken – but she loves her life as a novelist.

The best part of being a published author?

“Knowing for sure that I haven’t been wasting my time,” said Jane.

Topping the bill of speakers at the 27th Examiner Literary Luncheon is television chef Rosemary Shrager, who runs a famous cookery school in North Yorkshire and has written several recipe books.

Also appearing are Andy Seed, from Malton, a poet and writer of humorous non-fiction, and new author James Dawson, a former journalist and teacher from West Yorkshire, whose dark teen thriller Hollow Pike has been highly acclaimed.

The luncheon will be held at the John Smith’s Stadium on Tuesday October 2.

Tickets for the event, which is being supported by Waterstones, are available from the Examiner’s town centre office in John William Street or by calling 01484 430000.