A FROME writer has been drawing on her experiences as an epilepsy sufferer in her first book, Perdita, which has just been published.
Linzy Harris, who has lived in Frome for most of her life, was an epileptic for many of her teenage years. The novel draws on her experiences and she hopes that, aside from being a good read, it will help raise awareness and understanding of the condition.
Linzy explained, “The book is a thriller, and it’s based on my personal experiences of epilepsy – it was a very rare type of epilepsy I suffered from, which I had for around eight years. I was even put in hospital for a month when I was 15 so they could try and catch the attacks, and it wasn’t until then that they worked out that there was something different in my brain pattern.”
As a teenager, Linzy started keeping a diary which recorded all of her seizures, and it was when she rediscovered the diary a few years ago that the idea of the novel formed in her mind. “I found the diary when I was pregnant with my third son and I started writing,” she said. “I’ve been bringing up three boys at the same time so it’s taken me two years to write it.”
Although she has written poetry in the past, this is Linzy’s first novel. She has found the writing experience so rewarding that she is now half-way through writing the sequel to Perdita, which she hopes to publish next year.
Perdita is suitable for teenagers and young adults, and is now available to buy online from amazon.