Nadine Dorries, the controversial Tory MP, has signed a six-figure deal for three novels about growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s.

The first book, entitled The Four Streets, will be published next year as part of a trilogy about "Irish Catholic families struggling against poverty, hardship and abuse".

Her publisher, Head of Zeus, said Dorries is a "naturally gifted storyteller" whose writing is "moving and autobiographical".

Dorries, MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, told the Bedford Times and Citizen that she writes for fun between Commons votes.

"Really I was just playing around and when I finished it I was completely gobsmacked by the reaction it received.

"I grew up in really interesting times. Liverpool was swinging towards the Merseybeat and they were amazing days. Even as a young child I could feel that there was something amazing in the air."

Dorries joins a long line of MPs turned novelists, including Jeffrey Archer, Douglas Hurd, Edwina Currie, Ann Widdecombe and Sir Winston Churchill.

Rosie de Courcy, senior editor at Head Of Zeus, said she "absolutely adored this novel from the first word to the last".

She added: "Nadine is one of the most naturally gifted storytellers I have ever come across, with a magical ability to create characters you believe in and a heart-stopping way with words."

Dorries caused controversy by going on the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here last autumn. Her disappearance to Australia without permission from Tory whips caused her to be suspended from the party, before the whip was restored in May.

She also had to repay £3,000 of expenses in July which she wrongly claimed for travel taken to look after family members and her sick dog.