AN Abbots Langley author is currently making the most of the peace and quiet at her village home to write and research her next novel.

Stephanie Brookes' first book, Some Silent Hero, hit the shelves at the start of this year.

It is a fictional story about a woman who loses direction in life following the death of her father. She is helped by a spiritual medium and a female spirit.

It took Stephanie, 24, two years to write and is partly inspired by spirit visions she had as a child.

She said: "When I was younger I saw the spirits of man and a woman. They didn't seem ghostly, they were really clear. I wasn't scared as their faces looked so friendly, they made me feel comfortable."

Stephanie never told anyone about her encounter at the time but began to think more about it as she got older.

As she has always had a keen interest in writing, she decided to write a novel around her experiences while studying English and Creative Studies at Portsmouth University.

She got a literary agent and a small publisher expressed an interest.

However, Stephanie decided to set up her own company, called Spiritual Philosophy Publishing, with her father, Kevin.

She said: "We are still growing and struggling to make money at the moment but it was definitely the right decision for me. I enjoy being involved in things like the marketing of the book. We also want to be able to help other new writers get published."

For more information, visit www.spiritualphilosophy.co.uk.