TANDEM by Alex Morgan, £8.99
ISBN 978-0-957695740

CUMBRIAN writer Alex Morgan returned to her Scottish roots to create the narrative for this, her first, novel.

It tells the story of Paula, who abandons her life in London to escape a painful loss - but she finds herself involved in the tangled world of a complicated 12-year-old who lives in a seaside village.

The plot also involves a ‘celebrity penguin’, which becomes the subject of an attempted kidnap. Described as a ‘quirky tale of love and friendship’, the novel was published after winning an international competition run by the publisher Hookline.

The author spent 30 years as a journalist, including running the features desk of a daily paper.

For the past eight years she has worked for the National Trust at Wordsworth House and Garden in Cockermouth.

Alex says: “I never expected to win the Hookline competition and I cried when I heard.”