Sarah Stovell will see her debut novel, Mothernight, arrive in bookshops from March.

A gripping tale of love, revenge and family life, the story revolves around Leila Hartley, a 17-year-old boarder at an exclusive girls' school in Kent.

She keeps everyone at a distance, until a new girl called Olivia Rudham arrives. The two soon become best friends, but as the months go by Olivia begins to realise Leila may be harbouring a secret about her past.

Sarah, 31, who lives in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, began writing from a very early age. She actually had her first short story published by WHSmith when she was aged just 10, wrote her first novel aged 12 and was a finalist in the Vogue Talent Contest for Young Writers in 1999.

Mothernight by Sarah Stovell is published in March by Snowbooks at £7.99. Available at all good bookshops.