A WIDOWER whose wife died suddenly while trekking on Mount Everest has delivered on a promise to complete her novel.

Debra Wilding, 49, was with her daughter when she suffered a fatal heart attack on her descent from the Himalayan mountain base camp in October last year.

Before leaving for the expedition, the mother-of-two, of Lakeside, Newby Bridge, gave her husband Ian Wilding a draft manuscript of a novel to proof read.

He made a promise to her that he would finish it and has now delivered on that promise.

"When she went out I said: 'Why don't you finish it' so I could proof read it and illustrate it while she was away," he said. "I never thought she wouldn't come back.

"Obviously we were overtaken by events and it took a while before I was in the right frame of mind to deliver on my promise."

After illustrating the chapter headings and editing it, the 53-year-old published the novel Mr Teas online earlier this year and received paper copies last month (September).

Describing his beloved wife's book, he said: "It is a gentle, humorous novel about three retired ladies who meet for tea and cake each week in a small village, but it does have a dark undertone and is not nearly as light a read as you might imagine.

"Those who knew Deb well will be able to hear her voice clearly through the words that she typed and I hope will be able to re-experience her warmth, friendship and her sense of humour throughout much of the book."

And to some surprise, the novel even touched upon what Mr Wilding and his family were going through themselves.

"Part of the story is about bereavement and it is amazingly perceptive - the way characters deal with loss and doubt and the organisation," he added. "Finishing it was quite a cathartic and healing thing to do."

Mrs Wilding, a housewife, started penning her novel after completing an Open University degree she started in 2011.

"It was an idea she had had for a quite a while and it evolved over a couple of years," added the accountant and part time book illustrator. "I hope that I have done justice to Deb's work. I have changed very little from the file that Deb passed to me in September 2014."

Mr Teas is available as an e-book on Amazon for Kindle readers and similar applications.