The Essential Guide Magazine Stockton Heath and Appleton Aug - Sept 2014 | Page 8

Essential Feature

Katheryn’s novel idea
is a real page turner
A COLLEGE student who says she can’t
imagine a life without books has had her
first novel published.
Katheryn Thompson, who has just
completed five AS Levels at Priestley,
wrote ‘Brown Leather Shoes’ when she
was just 15.
Her 217-page thriller impressed several
publishers but it was Book Guild
Publishing that backed it and now the
story is available via Amazon, Waterstones
and the Guardian Bookshop.
“It’s all very surreal at the moment,” said
Katheryn, who has just turned 17.
“It didn’t seem real, but each time I tell
someone the reaction is incredible and
it makes me realise what has actually
happened.”
‘Brown Leather Shoes’ took Katheryn
less than a year to write while she was
studying for her GCSEs at Penketh High.
It tells the story of Superintendent
Andrew Arling who wakes in his living
room to find he can move his head,
but the rest of his body is fixed to the
armchair.
He is actually in a coma after being
attacked and the twists and turns of the
story play out in his mind as well as
through the investigations of his daughter
who is also trying to solve the crime.

“ I ’ v e
always had a vivid imagination and a
passion for reading and writing, so I
often get ideas for stories, some of which
I might start writing until I exhaust the
idea and then I’ll just get rid of it,” said
Katheryn.
“When I got the idea for Brown Leather
Shoes, I started writing and I got hooked.
I found myself planning, editing, and
writing whenever I had the time, as it was
just a way for me to relax.”
English
teacher
Hazel
Norman
recommended that Katheryn send her
story to publishers and she did, receiving
a positive response from several of them.
Now the book is available to buy as a
paperback or e-book. For Katheryn, a
steward at Penketh Methodist Church,
it could