Is there still a North/South divide? Why does Liverpool have a slavery museum? What's with Scouse and Geordie accents? Where are Northern women's stories in TV, film, and literature?

These are but a number of questions that Chester-born author, Ally Shepherd, dissects in her debut book, 'Back Up North'.

Having been delivered in the Countess of Chester hospital and growing up in the area, Ally found herself back in Chester after a decade overseas, once the pandemic hit.

Promptly becoming a 'born-again Northerner', she suddenly found herself with a lot of time.

The 37-year-old said: "I'd always wanted to write a book, but time is obviously an issue.

"When I got stuck in Chester, I couldn't work because school hadn't gone online yet, and I couldn't volunteer because I was staying with vulnerable family members.

"Basically I had time on my hands."

To fill the hours, she began reading existing texts about the area and soon realised 'all of them were written by men'.

She added: "I mean, the ones I read written by men were amazing. Hilarious and really informative, but I was trying to find one written by a woman and I couldn't.

Drawing on history, politics, pop culture, and folklore, 'Back Up North' explores the region's diverse legacy (Image via: Ally Shepherd)

"You might look at things differently, choose to focus on different things.

"I really wanted to see what it might look like, because all the women's books I could find were memoir.

"So I decided to write it."

Ally explained how 'Back Up north' doesn't neatly fit into one camp, as she said: "There's that memoir element, but I also still wanted to write about the North more broadly.

"It is nonfiction, with each chapter having a different theme.

"So defining what Northerners are, looking at the history of the North, looking at what's going on now, thinking about accent and dialect, food and drink, superstition, Northern literature, as well as TV and film and music.

"It's social commentary about the North of England told through personal anecdotes."

Documenting the journey to understand herself through the region in which she grew up, Ally explores its 'pressing' questions, as well as her relation to a specific Pendle witch.

Drawing on history, politics, pop culture, and folklore, 'Back Up North' explores the region's diverse legacy of food, music, literature, dialect, social change and superstition.

Charles Jennings, author of 'Up North: Travels Beyond the Watford Gap', described the book as: "A very beguiling take on the North and Northern culture - clever, insightful and, yes, very droll."

You can find Ally's book here.