A former Bishop’s Castle woman is hoping for literary success after writing a new novel which draws on her experience as a Shropshire smallholder.
Hilary Lloyd used to live in Bishop’s Castle and tend sheep but relocated after the foot and mouth epidemic.
Her book is called A Necessary Killing and is described as being a riveting and unpredictable suspense story which has themes of injustice and the lasting damage caused when government fails to remember that its actions affect people.
Mrs Lloyd said: “It is particularly the story of a woman who refuses to succumb to idiotic policy. After she is forced to concede, she sets out on a quest for justice.
“The setting of the book draws on my experience as a Shropshire smallholder with one of the few flocks of sheep in my area to survive the foot and mouth epidemic.
“I experienced first hand the human cost of the epidemic, the fear, anguish and desolation caused by the disease and especially by its management.”
Mrs Lloyd added that the epidemic may have been forgotten by many people even though it had a dramatic and lasting effect on the personal lives and health of many rural people.
She said: “A Necessary Killing tells their story.”
Mrs Lloyd added that since retiring from her smallholding she had moved to east Devon to be nearer her son, in Cornwall.
She said: “My small flock of sheep went to a good home and I’m working on promoting ‘A Necessary Killing’ and writing my next book. It is far less physically taxing than rearing sheep, but mentally just as draining.”
The book is available in local book shops.
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