Marlow woman celebrates new novel after four publishers offer her deals (From Ealing Times)

Marlow woman celebrates new novel after four publishers offer her deals

2:35pm Friday 9th December 2011 in Interviews By Rebecca Cain

SHELLEY Harris always dreamed of being an author so she couldn't believe her luck when she had to choose between four publishers who wanted to offer her a book deal. The Marlow resident's debut novel, Jubilee, is going to be released at the start of next year after she got the confidence to put her work in the limelight. She talks to Rebecca Cain about her delight at officially being an author.

When Harris had her two children she found her life turned into an endless list of mumsy duties which she sometimes found a little mundane.

Seeking a bit of intellectual stimulation she found herself writing in the spare few moments she could grab when her two boys, Seth and Caleb were three and eighteen-months.

She said: "By that stage I had had three years of motherhood. Obviously it is lovely and everything, but the tasks that you do day to day are quite mundane.

"I wanted to use my brain and be creative. I wanted to do more than just wipe bottoms."

Six years later after juggling looking after her two boys she finished her first book, but she didn't immediately look to get it published.

She said: "I would say the book was completely written about the beginning of 2010. In April 2010 I went to a writing festival in York and entered a competition, which was a bit like X-Factor. Ten of us were picked to read out our work."

They then faced advice from industry big wigs and the popular vote.

Harris won the popular vote and then had several offers from agents wanting to represent her which lead to four offers from publishers.

The 44-year-old said: "It was a great start really. I had a choice of agents. It made me very glad that I had been brave enough to put it out there."

She went with agent, Jo Unwin, who represents Stephen Kelman who has been nominated for a Man Booker prize for his novel, Pigeon English.

Harris had already written a novel when she spent a year in Paris but she said she was in her 20s and lacked the confidence to try and get it published.

She said she had always wrote in some form or another and even did some work experience at the Bucks Free Press before she was at school and after her degree. She later taught English at Beaconsfield High School and Aylesbury High School.

The idea of the book started with a photo of her own father at a VE day state party. It made her think about what lies behind a photo and what secrets lie behind the facade.

She set it during the silver jubilee in 1977 as she wanted to base it on her own upbringing in in Greenlands in Flackwell Heath.

The names are changed to allow some poetic license so her road became Cherry Gardens in Bourne Heath.

Harris, who volunteers at the Oxfam shop in Marlow, said: "I have tired to keep it very much in this one community. I have described the community in that detail."

Her children Seth, 11 and Caleb, 9 encouraged her to keep writing and the release has been held back until January to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year.

It is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson and in January will be avilable in hardback at £12.99 and as an ebook for £6.99 from all good bookstores.