A NOVEL written by a Torfaen teacher, who has won many awards for her writing, is set to be launched next week.

Jane Blank, who lives in Abergavenny, is an English and Drama teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw in Pontypool.

Her new work is a Welsh historical novel that blends passion and romance with gothic horror and is set to the backdrop of 1750s Ceredigion.

The Shadow of Nanteos, is the first in a two part series and is set to be launched on October 2.

The book is a historical love story based on the real lives of the Powell family of Nanteos mansion in West Wales.

Mrs Blank grew up in Sheffield but often visited family in Ceredigion, hence the interest in the mysterious Nanteos.

She still works as a teacher part time, but after doing a Creative Writing MA, has won awards for her writing.

The book tells the tale of William Powell and his headstrong wife Elizabeth, who unexpectedly inherit the glorious Nanteos estate in Cardiganshire and how it seems their new life is everything they could wish for.

But, as her debt-ridden husband is snared by the land disputes and violence of the Cardiganshire Lead Wars, Elizabeth, struggling to fit into her new role, is increasingly drawn to the mysterious figure of Cai, the estate’s handsome bailiff.

Soon the family are caught up in a violent political and legal battle that will end in tragedy.

Mrs Blank said: “I’m haunted by Nanteos since visiting there as a child and wanted to tell Elizabeth Powell’s story after reading about her in the archives at the National Library of Wales.

“I also wanted to explore the rift between the indigenous and largely monoglot Welsh people who were exploited in the mines and their increasingly anglicised masters."

The novel will be launched at the mansion itself, which is now a five star hotel.

For more information visit www.jane-blank.info