A PRIMARY school teacher from Moretonhampstead has seen her first book reach the final of the People’s Book Prize 2015.

Francine Bowden saw her debut children’s book ‘The Somewhat Bumpy Story of the Bath on Legs’ published earlier this year by Pegasus Publishers.

The tale has a novel twist — the story is told from the perspective of a snooty bath on legs. The tub has magical and mysterious properties that send two children generations apart on two exciting adventures.

The book was named Pegasus Publishers’ book of the month in April and has reached its bestsellers list. To recognise Francine’s achievement the publisher nominated the book in the children’s category of the People’s Book Prize 2015 summer collection. It has now been named as one of three finalists in the category.

Francine said: ‘It was such a shock to be named as one of the three finalists. I had been keeping a close eye on the comments that had been appearing in support of each book and was sure that I had been pipped to the post.

‘Now that I am a finalist I feel content that people have recognised my story as one worth reading, adults and children alike. Voting will open again next spring for the winner so I’ll try and get a bit of a campaign going to get votes!

‘The sales are going reasonably well, although I don’t think I’ll be buying my fancy car or yacht just yet. I haven’t started a second book yet, school is very busy and there is lots going on, but I have a few ideas!’

Francine started writing the book back in 2010, during her first year of teaching. Before that she dabbled in poetry and story writing as a hobby.

To find out more visit www.peoplesbookprize.com