AN AUTHOR from Brampton is hoping to take bookshops by storm when her novel of comedy and intrigue is released on Friday. It took Aliya Whiteley of Throckmorton Drive just a year to write her 85,000-word novel, Three Things About Me, which has been descri

AN AUTHOR from Brampton is hoping to take bookshops by storm when her novel of comedy and intrigue is released on Friday.

It took Aliya Whiteley of Throckmorton Drive just a year to write her 85,000-word novel, Three Things About Me, which has been described 'as a book that can change your emotions'.

"I've wanted to be a writer for a long time ever since I completed a creative writing course at university and to have my book published by a big publishing company like Macmillan is a dream come true," said the 35-year-old mother of one.

She said the book is a contemporary story with elements of seriousness and comedy. It is set in a small seaside town and follows the lives of seven people who go on a training course.

Each has a secret past, ranging from stardom to cultism and mistaken intentions to murder.

The inspiration for the novel came, unsurprisingly, from Aliya's time spent on training courses and in "tiresome jobs".

"I can sympathise with anyone who has or had a boring job as in the past I've been a waitress, chambermaid and worked in a call centre.

"I've also been on some horrible training courses and I've had to play the game three things about me which is used as an ice breaker. People have to say two truthful things about themselves and one lie and the other people on the course have to work out which one of the three statements is the lie.

"It's a horrible game and illustrates how people often make assumptions about others that later turn out to be false. My book explores this line of thinking."

Aliya, who had one of her short stories published in the Boston Globe, is already working on a follow-up to Three Things About Me.