AN award-winning author says she “shed many tears but laughed a lot” while writing her latest novel, which is a nod to her daughter and ode to her late dad.

Phyllida Shrimpton, 58, who now lives in Brightlingsea having spent time in the Netherlands, has just had paperback Every Shade of Happy published by Aria Fiction.

The story centres around intergenerational understanding and follows main protagonists 97-year-old Algernon and his 15-year-old granddaughter Anna.

Despite their differences, the pair, inspired by Phyllida’s dad and daughter, gradually start to realise they may more in common than they initially realised.

Gazette:

“The idea really took off when my sister and I found a box of letters written by our father to our mother back in 1947 when he was a young man,” said the writer.

“These letters showed us how, in life, he had lost sight of his hopes and dreams, allowing them to get lost in his past.

“Our father, we realised, had been young once and full of joy for life, yet the man we knew had so little to say about either.

“Although he had passed a few years ago, I wanted to get to know my father better and so Algernon, a disgruntled old man, was created.

“I created Anna based on my own daughter and her struggles with having to move schools in her teenage years.”

Phyllida was encouraged to pursue writing following praise from her English teacher and after having a story published in The Lady magazine.

Her first novel Sunflowers In February was published back in 2018 and went on to win the Scottish Schools Red Book Award and be nominated for a Centurion Book Award.

Phyllida, who enjoys swimming and dog-walking, added: “The writing of Every Shade of Happy was a personal journey - I shed many tears but also laughed a lot.

“I could not be more pleased this story will get to see the light of day - it feels amazing and I’ve been overwhelmed by the massively positive response so far.

“Intergenerational understanding is so important because the most vulnerable groups in life could offer so much to each other if only the barriers were lowered.”

Phyllida Shrimpton's book Every Shade of Happy is published in hardback for £20 by Aria on August 18.