A FORMER Lowestoft schoolgirl who is now enjoying life on the Canary Islands has just released her first novel.Pauline Barclay, now of Lanzarote, has released Magnolia House, a novel about family loyalty.
A FORMER Lowestoft schoolgirl who is now enjoying life on the Canary Islands has just released her first novel.
Pauline Barclay, now of Lanzarote, has released Magnolia House, a novel about family loyalty.
The novel, which has been published through Authors OnLine, tells the story of Jane Leonard, who gave half of her house to her son, little realising that within 12 months she would have to sell the property that she had lived in for nearly five decades.
Mrs Barclay has a long association with Britain's most easterly point, having spent a defining period of her life here. While her parents also still live in Carlton Colville.
Pauline was born in 1953 in Bradford, but moved to Suffolk in 1968.
'I lived in Lowestoft for 17 years, going to the old Lowestoft Grammar and then working at what used to be the East Anglia Water Company, at the top of the High Street, before taking a job in the office at Richards Shipbuilders, Horn Hill. Sadly both companies are no longer in existence, but then, the grammar school has long gone,' she said.
After working for SLP for a couple of years, Pauline moved to Surrey with her husband Clive, before going to Holland and, most recently, the Canary Islands.
Her passion for writing grew after finishing an Open University degree in 1992.
'After graduating I realised just how many extra hours I had in a day - even with my full time job - so I started writing. Back in those days, it was short stories, years later, I started to write full length novels,' she said.
From her home in Lanzarote, Pauline wrote Mangolia House, and she is now busy on her next one, with the hope of publishing two more in the next 12 months.
To find out more on Pauline's book or read her short story Under the Cover of Darkness, visit www.paulinebarclay.co.uk
If you know an ex-pat that has an interesting story to tell, contact richard.wood@archant.co.uk
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