CELEBRATED Ely author Mary Nichols is preparing for the paperback launch of her latest romantic novel, The Girl on the Beach.

A tale of romance, separation and loss, the book is set to launch on August 27 and will be available both as an e-book and in paperback from bookshops across Cambridgeshire.

Mary has published almost 50 books in her time as an author and has been shortlisted by the Romantic Novelists Association for book of the year on several occasions.

Mary attributes her love of language down to her father, a Dutch-South African, who, she says, insisted on precision with both the written and spoken word.

She said: “He was also a great reader and there were always books in the house, so that I learned to read at a very early age. By the time I was nine or ten, my one ambition was to be a famous writer.”

Mary wrote her first novel when she was just 15 but delayed her passion for getting her work published until her children were at school, when she joined the Cambridge Writers Circle.

She continued to have short pieces published in magazines and periodicals up until 1981 when her first novel was published by Robert Hale, with nine more following in the next five years.

She had an historical romance novel published by Mills and Boon in 1985 and she has continued to have her work published by the famous publishing house since.

Mary added: “Writing for me is an addiction. I am not happy if I haven’t got a book on the go and if my readers enjoy what I have written, that is an added bonus.”

INFO: to find out more, visit www.marynichols.co.uk.