A barefoot Judy Finnigan welcomes me into her home overlooking London’s leafy Hampstead Heath, showing me into the comfortable family sitting room, peppered with pictures of her and husband Richard Madeley and their children, writes Hannah Stephenson.

It’s an elegant, lived-in space – comfy sofas, stacks of DVDs and books, daffodils in vases bringing brightness to an otherwise gloomy day. The setting seems in keeping with Judy’s calm, relaxed mood, as we sit to discuss her second novel, I Do Not Sleep.

Based in Cornwall, where she and Richard have a home, it tells the story of a mother struggling to come to terms with the loss of her 20-year-old son, who disappeared in a sailing accident five years previously.

Venturing back to the spot on an ill-advised family holiday, she tries to find out what happened to her son, distancing herself from her family and uncovering painful truths along the way.

Judy, 66, hopes she’s conveyed the emotional elements well, and points out that when she and Richard were presenting ITV’s This Morning, it was she who’d tap into female guests’ thought processes.

“When we’ve interviewed people who’ve lost children in tragic circumstances, the wife and husband always grieve in a completely different way. The man will be more blustery and forceful. But in most of the interviews of that type that Richard and I did, the wife would sit quietly,“ she explains.

Richard and Judy both have relatively newfound careers as novelists, although Richard has continued with broadcasting.

She, on the other hand, vowed after their chat show on Watch flopped a few years ago, that she was done with broadcasting, and her debut novel Eloise became a Sunday Times bestseller. So what persuaded her to join ITV’s Loose Women last October?

“For me, it’s nothing like the broadcasting I did. It’s not my show. I’m not responsible for it. I’m just part of a group of people and I find it quite good fun.”

However, after her first appearance, Judy found herself the centre of a furore over her comments about Welsh footballer and convicted rapist Ched Evans, after saying that his sex attack was “unpleasant“ but “not violent“, sparking a torrent of criticism and complaints, along with a backlash of abuse on Twitter, and rape threats against daughter Chloe.

Judy apologised at the time for any offence caused. She was recently cleared by Ofcom, who received 20 complaints from the public following her comments – her remarks were ruled “editorially justified“.

Media commentators have been pretty cruel to the journalist and mother-of-four over the years, married to a man eight years her junior who never seems to age.

“The fact that Richard and I presented as a married couple and were successful, always gave people who wanted to write nasty things an extra angle,“ she adds.

Today, they have just celebrated their 28th anniversary and can spend more time at their house in Talland Bay, near Polperro, where they sit opposite each other and write at their large pine kitchen table.

“Writing is quite solitary, and it’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off. If I’m not quite sure about a character or a plot, I can talk to Richard about it, and vice versa.“

Her priority remains her family. She dedicates the book to her four children (twins Tom and Dan from her first marriage, Chloe and Jack from her marriage to Richard), and to the latest addition to her family, 18-month-old granddaughter Ivy – Tom’s daughter.

She is enjoying being a grandmother, and smiles when she talks about how paternal Richard is.

“I thought you can’t possibly feel the same as you do when your own are born, but oddly enough, you do. It’s like a starburst.”

So, life is good for the Madeleys. The Richard and Judy Book Club is still going strong, as the couple prepares to sign another five-year contract, while Judy’s own novels will continue – she plans to be writing another book by spring.

Judy Finnigan will be talking to husband and co-presenter Richard Madeley about her book I Do Not Sleep as part of Essex Book Festival at Anglia Ruskin University, Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford, CM1 1SQ on Monday, March 2 from 7:30pm to 9pm. Details: 01206 573948, essexbookfestival.org.uk

See our pick of other events at the festival here.