Burnham-on-Sea resident Sheila Rainey, 95, has first novel published

Sheila Rainey got her novel, Innocents in London, on to Amazon/Kindle this month, and there is the possibility that it will be published in book form if 20 copies of her book are purchased via Kindle.

The 278-page novel follows the story of a young boy, whose mother has died and is under the care of his scheming uncle and aunt.

The boy is then kidnapped from his father's country estate and finds himself in Georgian London, where he is coerced into being a climbing boy.

The story continues with his battle for survival and his quest to be reunited with his much-loved father.

In addition to Innocents in London, Sheila has completed eight detective novels, with her passion for writing originating in the evening classes she undertook in shorthand and typing, music appreciation and creative writing, many years ago.

She became orchestral secretary for the Philharmonic Orchestra, attending rehearsals, concerts, recordings and trips abroad, before going on to work with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Wishing to both broaden and deepen her education, Sheila took a three-year course as a mature student at Bristol University, reading English, history and philosophy, and was awarded a BA in 1970.

She was employed by the BBC in Bristol, as secretary to their training orchestra for young musicians, before transferring to London to work with BBC Music Publications, commissioning programme notes for concerts, editing and proof reading, and compiling short biographies of artists appearing in concerts.

PASSION FOR WRITING: Sheila Rainey at work (pic: Mike Lang Photography)

A car accident left her with severe leg injuries, and unable to work for several months, before she gained employment as a receptionist at the Gilbert White Museum in Selbourne.

During the winter months she catalogued the museum's archives, among them the Holt White documents which included the letters of Gilbert White’s niece Mary White to her younger brother Thomas Holt White, who by the end of the 18th century became known as a Shakespeare scholar.

Obtaining a grant she complied the Mary White letters into a thesis and was awarded a Master of Philosophy degree in 1990.

Moving to Eastbury, in Berkshire, Sheila worked freelance for a Newbury publisher, Countryside Books, editing, proof reading and providing indexes, until her diminishing eyesight forced her to retire to Burnham.

Sheila's publisher has discussed releasing Q for Murder as her next novel, with her other detective novels being called Murdos Barn, Generation of Vipers, Dancing Harlequin, Charlsons Folly, Shefford Takes Leave, Death in Arcadia and Suffer Little Children.