Letters to Doberitz is based on a true story of Love and War that has waited 100 years to be told. It has been turned into a novel by High Littleton resident, Derek Payne, in time for the anniversary of the end of WWI.

Published by Austin Macauley on 31st October and available in all good book shops, the story is both intriguing and unique, as father and son endure very different wars. Set between the front line, a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany and the family back home in Bristol, this is a particularly compelling story as the author and the cover designer are direct descendants of the four main characters in the book.

Sometimes truth is more incredible than fiction, and this is one of those times!

Derek explains: “My book is based on a true family story that I first heard about when I was a child.

“Five years ago, I thought the story so unique, I set out to record it for future generations of my family so it would not be lost to history. When I had finished, several people said, “Wow, what a story,” or “This should be made into a book/film! “They say that everyone has a book in them, well, this is mine.

“I have written quirky poetry in the past and I published a book in 2016 under a pseudonym, to raise money for the Children’s Hospice South West, which the BBC carried a piece on, but this is my first novel.

“Because I’ve had other things going on, it took me five years to write, but the lovely family twist is that the great-grandson of William and Annie in the book, Vincent Brown, a Bristol artist (and my second cousin), designed and painted the book cover.”