Debut novel by Safety Bay writer

A whirlwind romance, a birth, a murder and two world wars fill the pages of the debut novel by Safety Bay writer Beryl Cloverdale.

First setting pen to paper as a young child, Mrs Cloverdale said her work of historical fiction The Lazarus Quartet had been years in the making.

On its completion, she said it had spent a considerable amount of time hidden away in a drawer before she decided to resurrect it and try her luck by sending it to a Victorian publisher.

Mrs Cloverdale said she had decided to take a leap of faith and send the work away for consideration for print, and was surprised and delighted when the publishing house contacted her to tell her it was under discussion to appear in paperback.

"I started writing The Lazarus Quartet a few years ago, and had about 180,000 words when it got all but abandoned and stored away in a drawer," she said.

"It was with support from my friends at my writing group in Warnbro that I decided to just go for it and send it off."

Born in the years after World War II and raised in the north of England, Mrs Cloverdale said she had always been fascinated with the war years and decided to focus on those affected by it, setting her story during the inter-war years.

She said The Lazarus Quartet followed the plight of four family members devastated by the death of handsome solider Michael Darrington, their determination to survive and the bond between them that eventually becomes suffocating.

Visit www.amazon.com.au later this month to find out more.