TWO West Devon authors who live in the same parish have just had their books published.

Joan Calmady-Hamlyn and Sheila Buck, both octogenarians from the Bridestowe area, are authors who enjoy the challenge of creating a good story.

One has chosen the war years as the springboard for a heart-warming fiction, Down Again to the Deep', about the friendship between a German Captain and an English Commander that lasts against all odds. The other has created an enchanting story about a 'gang' of ducks which is aimed at delighting the younger reader.

The wartime story was a subject that interested author Joan Calmady-Hamlyn.

'I had a certain interest about a relationship between the German and the Royal Navy because I think before the war they got on well together. And I think now, since they are working together, they are getting on very well again.'

Joan, 80, has written nine novels and is currently suffering writer's block on her latest work — again a story set during the second world war.

It revolves around two cousins — one English and the other half-German, who end up fighting each other in the opposing navy.

'I have just got the German one off the Bismarck. He is rescued from a raft two days later. But he is in a disturbed state — and so am I because I don't know what will happen next! I have got the end of the book — but I can't get the middle!'

Joan served in the WRNS as a cypher officer during the war, seeing action in the North Atlantic. She was later an encephalographer at a neuro-psychiatric unit.

Sheila Buck, from Bridestowe, has turned her writing skills to the farmyard for her latest story Ducks and Drakes.

Having already written three travelogues, a novel and the true story of 'Braddie', her much loved Border collie, Sheila has now penned this delightfully illustrated tale for small children.

'Braddie' appealed to children and people that liked dogs. Where I live there is a lake that is occupied by ducks and they are all quite fascinating ducks,' said Sheila who is an enthusiastic 85-year-old.

With an informed knowledge of waterfowl, the author has cleverly combined the beauty, mystery and occasional sadness of Mother Nature to produce a series of short adventures that will educate as well as entertain.

Sheila started her adult life as a Wren during the war. Then she became a horticulturist and after qualifying began a career as a biologist.

'I got the urge to travel and spent five years lecturing in Africa before coming back to Britain.'

It was her late husband who suggested she wrote about her travels — and that was how she began being published.

Sheila has always loved animals and currently shares her life with an eight-year-old greyhound called 'Zim' — because she got her after a visit to Zimbabwe earlier this year.

'She is lovely — I got her through the Retired Greyhound Trust,' says Sheila who is always delighted to look after animals in need of a good home.

Perhaps the story of 'Zim' could find itself the subject of a future book.

In the meantime copies of 'Ducks and Drakes' are available through Book Stop in Market Street, Tavistock and various other outlets. Sheila has already given 18 copies to the village shop in Bridestowe and is donating the profit from them towards refurbishing the village hall.

ROGER MALONE

l Down Again to the Deep by Joan Calmady-Hamlyn is published by the Book Guild, price £15 hardback.

Ducks and Drakes by Sheila Buck is published by Stockwell, price £3.99.