Literary legend Margaret Atwood tips Scots publishing duo for the top... then scoffs their pudding

She may be a literary legend, a feminist icon, and a favourite to win the Booker prize in a few weeks’ time… but you should never trust Margaret Atwood with your pudding.

Young publishers who have won the attention and praise of the global best-seller have spoken of their huge admiration and gratitude for her support while revealing her love of lemon cheesecake, which may not, necessarily, strictly speaking, be her own.

Laura Jones, 29, and Heather McDaid, 28, were not born when Atwood wrote her landmark feminist novel The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985.

But they were around to see it spawn a multi-Emmy award-winning TV show, followed by a sequel, The Testaments, whose launch this month took the world by storm.

The iconic 79-year-old Canadian writer – recently hailed the pair as being among the people she most believed in, and for fighting to make the world a better place.

Falkirk-born Heather, who, with Laura, launched 404 Ink in 2016 and who lays proud claim to “loudly” publishing alternative writers who might not otherwise be heard, said: “We tweeted Margaret about the first book we published called Nasty Women. It is an anthology of what it is to be a woman in the 21st Century and it started as a response to the phrase Donald Trump said during a presidential debate (about Hillary Clinton).

She said: “It gave women a platform to write about their lives who would traditionally be silent. She has supported us since.”

They finally met Atwood later that year. “She came to London to do an event at the South Bank,” said Heather.

“We messaged her to say we were going to be in London if she was free at all and she made time for us. We went for lunch with her.”

Laura laughed: “I thought it was just going to be about half an hour, a quick lunch, but no, we sat down and had a three course meal. We were there for two or three hours, just chatting about the business.

“Margaret stole my dessert. It was a lemon cheesecake. We were the only two who wanted dessert but she ended up stealing half of it. But it was fair – she was paying.

“She acknowledged that it is difficult being a woman and a woman in the public arena, trying to run a business and really big-up other women’s voices. What we got from her was that you have to keep going.”

Heather said: “We had our second birthday party in December and Margaret beamed in from Canada to read The Handmaid’s Tale for it. We just asked her if she’d do it and she said yes.

“Every time we get a new thing from her we are just blown away that she makes time for us and is really supportive of us.” Atwood is not their only celebrity endorsement. Actor Jeff Goldblum gave a gift book they published by Helen McClory called The Goldblum Variations the thumbs up and even read from it.

Both only children, the pair grew up at different ends of the country – Laura in the tiny fishing village of Gardenstown on Aberdeenshire’s Moray Firth coast and Heather in Falkirk.

Both came from book-loving households and, as part of their eclectic reading diet, admitted to devouring the entire Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling. They are graduates in publishing from Stirling University but attended at different times, later working together.

It was while working at the Scot List Fest virtual book festival, launched in 2016 as part of the Saltire Society’s 80th anniversary celebrations, that they hit on the idea for 404 Ink.

Laura said: “As soon as Scot Lit Fest finished we registered the company. Our goal is to support new writers and publish work that excites us.

“We will publish fewer titles and make lots of noise about each.”