Huntingdon supermarket employee pens second novel

An author who works on a supermarket fish counter by day and pens romantic novels at night has just had her second book published.

Elaine Pridham, 46, who works at the Huntingdon branch of Waitrose, has now started work on her third novel, which will conclude the story of her main characters Jacob and Sally and their complicated relationship.

Elaine, who writes under the pen name Lainy Bradshaw, self-published her first novel Lead me from Solitude in July 2013, but by the time she had finished the second book Ghosts from the Past she had been accepted by publisher Titan Publishing House and the book was released three weeks ago.

“It is very exciting but the pressure is now on to finish the third, which I have started already,” she said.

Elaine says her inspiration comes from real life and a conversation with her mum two years ago gave her the confidence to start writing.

“I have always been an avid reader and wanted to start writing but didn’t feel I had the time, but my mum told me to give it a go. I went home that night and wrote a couple of rough chapters based on an idea and thought ‘I could get a book out of this’.”

Elaine has had a varied career which includes serving five years in the RAF and working in an underwear factory, and uses her experiences to invent characters and plot lines for her books.

“I sometimes see someone in the street and will base a character around them or I see a news item or a headline and think I can twist it into something for my book.”

INFORMATION: Copies of Elaine’s latest book and her previous work are available on Amazon and Waterstones online.