NEWSNIGHT presenter Kirsty Wark is to have her first novel published by Two Roads, the upmarket imprint of publishing giant Hodder & Stoughton.

Other Women's Flowers, set on the Isle of Arran, is about a 95-year-old woman who knows she will die soon and who leaves her family home to a woman she barely knows.

It is described as a "haunting story of discovery over many generations of women and the surprising and tragic secrets of their lives" and her publisher has already compared the Review Show host to bestselling authors Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher. Publication is scheduled for February 2014.

Wark, who lives in Glasgow, told The Herald: "It's essentially a love letter to Arran. I had the idea a long time ago, but life got in the way and I footered about with it for ages. Then two years ago I decided to go for it.

"The manuscript for Other Women's Flowers was sent to publishers two weeks ago. I'm so thrilled and excited I can't tell you."

US rights will be sold shortly and she is hopeful of foreign language versions.

The journalist is already writing a second novel for Two Roads which she says will also be Scottish at heart, though "definitely not" political.

Wark, 57, has been holidaying on Arran with her family since childhood, and although she does not have a house there she visits at least once a year.

Her late mother, who was from Lanarkshire, started going as a young girl and continued to visit throughout her life. Wark's Glasgow-born father also loved the island. "It's like a second home to me and I just love it," she said. Parts of Other Women's Flowers, which runs to 110,000 words, was written on Arran, although most of it was created in her home in the west end of Glasgow.

Wark cites her literary influences as Anne Tyler and Lewis Grassic Gibbon, though she is quick to add: "No way am I anywhere near in their league but I do admire their classic storytelling skills."

Two Roads publisher Lisa Highton said: "Kirsty's a born storyteller and her passion for writing and the island shine through. Her characters and sense of place are so vivid, I was completely wrapped up in their lives. It's sure to appeal not only to her own fans but those of Maeve Binchy and Rosamund Pilcher.

"I'm thrilled Kirsty chose us to start her 'new career' as a novelist."

Wark has been a presenter on Newsnight since 1993. Asked if writing was indeed to be her new career given the crisis involving the programme and its discredited child abuse report, she replied: "Who knows?"

She has already forged something of a reputation as a cook and baker and has appeared on BBC2's Celebrity MasterChef. Wark has also baked a "quintessentially Scottish" cake as a contestant on the BBC's Great British Bake Off Special for Comic Relief which is to be aired in January.