A JOURNALIST has published her first novel - five decades after she wrote her first story.

Iris Murray Clapp wrote her first story The Secret of Basedale Hall when she was eight-years-old.

She embarked on a career as a journalist and worked for the Rossendale Free Press, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Burnley Express, Daily Mirror and Essex County Newspapers.

Now she is no longer working as a full-time journalist, she has returned to her first love and has written Time Watches from the Shadow. The book is available via Amazon Kindle costing £1.89.