AN ENNISKILLEN woman who people may associate more with music and the arts rather than words has just published her debut novel.

Pam Scrayfield, who is well known through her work with Fermanagh Concert Band and working for years at the Ardhowen Theatre, has turned her talents now to writing and is preparing to launch her fantasy novel entitled ‘The North Beyond’.

Pam explains that the book is fiction, describing it as a fantasy novel covering a period of fifty years during the narrative and chronicling the history of three imaginary countries.

“It’s a long book, published in four paperback volumes and it took me four years to write” says the author.

Asked about how she came to write a book she said she has a passion about writing and said she felt there was a book ‘in her’ so to speak, so with a bit of encouragement from family and friends she just ‘got on with it’.

“I had accumulated various notes and I had written over the years and somehow this is the one that stood out.”

The countries in the book begin friendly with each other, and living in peace but they drift into hostility and eventually into a war ‘that could easily have been avoided,’ Pam explains.

“The message in the book is why can’t human beings learn from their mistakes.”

As the novel comes in four paperbacks – e-books, they are prices separately but it is the one story, stresses Pam, who said people must start at the beginning (the first book) and read through the books.

Pam also said it is quite clear on the book covers these books are part of one novel.

Pam said her initial inspiration for the book (and the title ‘the North Beyond’) came from those huge blue motorway signs you see while heading north on the A1, or great North road in England.

“The signs point to ‘the North’ but eventually you reach Scotland and the word disappears – like the ‘North’ is an elusive thing you can’t quite find or a place you can’t reach.

“The story also has a hint of a parallel universe in there” continues Pam.