LOCAL writer Quentin Letts is celebrating after his debut novel ‘The Speaker’s Wife’, won the coveted Beryl Bainbridge Award for first-time writers. The announcement was made on July 12th at the People’s Book Prize ceremony at Stationers’ Hall, London, and the award was presented by thriller writer Frederick Forsyth.

‘The Speaker’s Wife’ is a parliamentary novel set partly in Herefordshire – with a central figure called Ross. Published by LittleBrown, it was described by ‘The Guardian’ as a ‘rollicking’ tale and will go into paperback later this year.

‘I am thrilled and a bit dazed to have won this prize,’ said Mr Letts, who lives at How Caple with his wife and three children.