Doncaster author to stage hometown book signing for release of debut novel

Melanie Hewitt’s first novel Looking For The Durrells has just hit the bookshelves – and next week she will discuss the book and will be signing copies at Waterstones in the Frenchgate Centre.

Melanie, 59, from Branton will be at the branch from 6.15 to 7.30pm on August 19 and tickets can be booked HERE

She has had a lifelong love affair with the Durrell family – and the book delves into the world of the legendary best-selling writing family.

The book follows lead character Penny fulfilling a childhood dream, setting off on a month-long pilgrimage to Corfu – an island idyll she knows only through the pages of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals.

On the island, Penny quickly finds herself drawn into the lives of a tight-knit circle of strangers. Exploring, searching for the places the Durrells knew decades before, she makes unexpected discoveries about the hopes, fears, and secrets of the people living there today.

And as strangers start to be friends, lives past and present become entwined in ways none of them could have predicted…

Melanie said: “My dad gave me a copy of ‘My Family and Other Animals’ when I was just 13 years old.

“I remember it well.

“It was a rainy afternoon here in Doncaster

“The book transported me to the magical land of Corfu.”

A spokesman said: “Join us to hear Melanie Hewitt in conversation about her brilliant book Looking for the Durrells and take home a signed copy.”