This week saws the publication of the latest book by Douglas author Lynn Dawson.

Writing under the pen name Lynn Bryant, Mrs Dawson’s book, An Unconventional Officer, is released on Amazon Kindle and in paperback, also available on Amazon.

The book is the first in a series set during the Peninsular War and tells the story of Paul van Daan, an officer who joins the 110th Infantry in 1802 in time to travel to India to serve under a young and inexperienced Arthur Wellesley, later to be known as the Duke of Wellington.

’I’ve always written and read a lot. My first efforts were at school, scribbled in old exercise books,’ she said.

’I entered a few compeitions and won a few things and got some good reports from organisations like the Romantic Novelists’ Association, but I had a job and kids and you hear about people spending years trying to get published so I thought I’d try self publishing on Kindle.’

She already has three books available on Kindle as e-books, A Respectable Woman, set in the East End of London, during the Victorian era, A Marcher Lord, set on the Anglo Scottish border during the 16th century, and The Reluctant Debutante, a Regency romance.

’At the moment, the sales are purely through Amazon but I’m hoping to get it in some of the local shops as well,’ she said.

Though the books all have a historical setting, research hasn’t been a problem for her.

’I have a history degree, albeit many years ago, so some of the periods are ones I know a lot about but I enjoy doing the research.

’The first book, set in East London, is where I grew up so a lot of the research there was from original sources. For the latest book, there’s a huge amount of published information on the Peninsular War. For example, there are about 13 volumes of Lord Wellington’s dispatches and you get a real sense of how people saw it at the time,’ she said.

Visiting locations used in the novels is also important to her.

’I wrote the latest book initially based on maps and recorded accounts. Then my husband got dragged around different locations in Spain and Portugal and this was particularly useful. In fact, I re-wrote some sections of the book having been there,’ she said.

Having lived in the Isle of Man since 2001, she would definitely like to use the island as a setting.

’I have a few ideas involving the Civil War: there were some quite significant incidents in the Isle of Man during the Civil War,’ she said.

Mrs Dawson lives in Douglas with her husband, teenage son and daughter and two labradors. When not writing, she runs the Manx Trinity Academy of Irish Dance and the latest book launch conincides with her 55th birthday.