A Stourbridge poet perhaps best known for an anthology written in Black Country dialect has branched out with her first novel.

And in stark contrast Lottie Caldwell has dipped into a dark and gritty world on an urban estate.

Her psychological thriller Jim Bowie – the Bowie refers to the famous hunting knife which plays a key element in the story – is being launched in a live stream online at 7.30pm on Thursday (December 17).

She has drawn on her long career in social care as inspiration for many of the themes in the book.

Lottie, 56, has always loved writing but considered it just a hobby until she met her partner Matthew Caldwell, himself a poet and musician, in 2013.

He encouraged her to publish her writings and four poetry books later she is well established.

Her ‘dialect’ anthology ‘Carpet threads and pains of glass’ which draws heavily on her memories of her Kidderminster childhood and subsequent adult life in Stourbridge, is her best known work.

Apart from Matthew, Lottie says what has helped her greatly has been the support of the creative people at the Katie Fitzgeralds pub in Enville Road who encouraged her writing and her performance poetry.

But she had always wanted to write a novel, and now it’s here and available on Amazon.

And it won’t be the last. The mother of three is already working on a new one – about a character in a novel who does not know they are a character in a novel.

Work that one out!

The online book launch can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/events/153352613199976