Friends 'star' in book

She may be only 15 years old but this Shropshire schoolgirl already has a book published and on sale.

Telford teenager Abby Buchan Howard has used experiences of her life as the basis of her romantic novel entitled A Teardrop of Love. And she even based some of her main characters on her best friends.

The 370-page book, which the Thomas Telford student began writing when she was just 11, is now on sale at Amazon and in high street shops.

The Year 10 pupil from Trench said: "I wanted to write a romantic novel, it's a lot nicer. It's about the life of this young girl who meets a guy in school and follows their life together."

She said her friends were "really excited and happy about the book", which took her about 14 months to write and is published by Authorhouse.

Abby has written other novels and is working through the laborious task of proofreading them prior to publication.

She added: "It's a great feeling to actually see my book in print. I'm surprised but very pleased with all the attention it is getting."

Her school library has even got a copy of the book but it is in such great demand pupils are having to wait to loan it out.

Mrs Margaret Howells, librarian at Thomas Telford School, said: "We are very proud of Abby's achievements and a good number of staff and students are interested in buying her book."