A KENDAL teacher is working with a new Askam-in-Furness publishing house to make his spooky novel a printed reality.

Aki Atkinson, 34, is the writer of Tree of Lost Souls, a story based in Hanoi about a girl who spends her time in a house full of child ghosts.

The tale is aimed at a pre-teen audience, a demographic that Aki often teaches English as a foreign language to, and he described it as 'traditional' in style.

"I have been trying to have something published for about 10 years," he said. "I've had quite a bit of poetry published in journals in the past but this will be the first book."

He will be working with Amy Stretch-Parker to try to raise just under £3,000 for the book.

Amy had great success with her own children's book, Peter Digs a Den, last year and has since gone on to set up publishing house A Spark in the Sand.

Aki got in touch with Amy and she loved his manuscript.

"I'm a big fan of ghost stories anyway but there was a certain poignancy to the story," she said. "I think it's very relatable. It's not a sad story but it did make me cry. I think it has a certain amount of hope."

The duo are working with illustrator Hannah Postlethwaite, who is lending her 'ethereal' drawing style to the novel.

Aki is keeping tight-lipped on the book's plot details but did say that a house he lived in Hanoi was 'a bit creepy'.

"At night there would often be knocking on the walls and doors opening and closing," he said. "The strangest thing was when one of my friends were round and we both saw a Vietnamese family in traditional clothes walking to the dining room where we were and then leave."

He added that he did not want to impose any 'spiritual ideals' on readers but rather leave it up to them to form their own opinions.

The duo plan on launching the book's Kickstarter page in the early summer. More details at: https://www.facebook.com/ASparkintheSandUK/ closer to the time.