A WRITER from a village near Bradford on Avon who thought he would never see his work in print has finally realised his ambition.

Brian Sellars, 67, of Lower Westwood, who has been writing for 35 years has had his historical novel Tuppenny Hat Detective published in paperback by youwriteon.com on Thursday, funded by the Arts Council.

Mr Sellars is due to have another historical novel, The Whispering Bell, published by Cheshire-based company Quaestor 2000 at the end of January.

He received news of both publications within 10 days of each other and achieved his feat despite leaving school without any qualifications He said: “When you write something you always hope someone’s going to read it one day.

“It was totally unexpected. You get to a stage where up think it’s time to give it up.”

The Whispering Bell is set in Anglo-Saxon England and tells the story of a talented needlewoman who sees the calm and security of her life shattered.

Tuppenny Hat Detective takes place in the 1950s and sees a boy investigate the death of an old woman he chances upon.

Mr Sellars, who has been retired for two years and spent the majority of his career in sales, has written seven historical novels.

He moved to Lower Westwood 12 years ago and lived in Trowbridge for 12 years before that.