North Devon readers will recognise many of the local settings as well as nearby locations such as Exeter and Boscastle.ĭevon teenager Chloe Su comes into her unknown power unexpectedly when she blows her own house up and what follows is a breath-taking chase as she and her father Daniel flee The Sentinel, a CIA-like agency that scours the globe and hunts witches. Witchcraft is real, but only women are born as witches, and they are reviled, pursued, incarcerated and executed by a bigoted American government that has spread its brand of hatred across the globe. Now, 20 years later and married with three children, she has published several novels, survived cancer and is the author of leading online blog The Coven is set in 2020 in an alternate version of our world. Lucy, aged 40, grew up in North Devon and began her writing career as a teenager at the North Devon Journal, as well as working as a script reader for film and television. She was pregnant at 18, faced scorn and prejudice at every turn but worked hard to get out of poverty and make a life for her son.

Read more: Astonished grandad lands jackpot after buying 90p competition ticket ‘Lizzie’ is Devon’s Lucy Hay, crime writer, script editor, screenwriter and successful online blogger, who has overcome more than a little adversity to make her own way in the world. Settling down with 'The Coven' by Lizzie Fry this September is the perfect antidote to dispel the dark autumn evenings with an action-packed and original tale that will appeal to a wide audience.

Overcoming the odds as a teen mum and proving the haters wrong are among the inspirations for a North Devon author’s debut rollercoaster chase novel set in a world where witches are real – and persecuted.

Lizzie's Story by Lucy V. Hay