Sandgate School teacher set for launch of first novel

Rachel Canwell, head of lower school at Sandgate School, is releasing ‘Paper Sisters’ on February 12.

The book tells the story of three women in World War One ‘trapped by the looming presence and eerie stillness of a hospital that has never admitted a single patient.’

Mrs Canwell reveals that the setting of the hospital is something that was very much real.

She said: “The idea is based on a true story. It’s actually set in Lincolnshire where I grew up and it’s in a village called Sutton Bridge.

“In real life in the late 1800s there was a port built there which fell into the river a month after completion. But alongside the port was a hospital that was built, an isolation hospital for the sailors that were there.

“My mum’s family were kind of given custodianship of the hospital but when the port fell everyone forgot about the hospital but it stayed and the family stayed. It was open for 70 years but it never had a patient in all those years.”

The book is five years in the making and will be published on February 12 (Image: Rachel Canwell)

Juggling the book with her job, Mrs Canwell has taken five years to write it but she advised other authors that they don’t have to spend every day writing.

‘Paper Sisters’ will be available to buy on Amazon and more information on the book can be found here.

“It’s been about finding the space and time where you can and knowing that you won’t be able to write every day,” she said.

“It’s been a long, hard slog, but it’s a dream come true to have it published.”

The book has been published by Northodox but Mrs Canwell did a lot of submitting to publishers before she signed on the dotted line.

She added: “There was a lot of submittin. I submitted to agents and to independent publishers at the same time. I was probably doing that for six months and then I got an offer from Northodox and just after that I also got an offer from an agent so I have an agent now as well.”

The hospital at Sutton Bridge, which is the setting for 'Paper Sisters' (Image: Rachel Canwell)

The book will have its official launch at Illuminate Festival at Kirkby Lonsdale on February 14 and Mrs Canwell’s new status as a published author will see her brushing shoulders with an iconic author on February 7.

She said: “Lee Child is doing an event at the Illuminate and we’re holding an in conversation with him and actually he’s asked to do a joint signing, so there will be advanced copies of my book available for the signing alongside Lee’s books.”