A 17-year-old author from Duloe says shes achieved her lifes goal by getting her first novel published despite missing out on years of schooling.

Lucy Godfrey began writing Forbidden Lives when she was just 14 after suffering serious injuries in a mini-motorbike crash near Looe in 2007. Her fear of hospitals meant her head injuries were never treated properly and this in turn led to medical complications which prevented her from returning to lessons at Looe Community School.

Instead, Lucy put pen to paper and wrote her first book but little did she know that three years later the book would be stocked in bookshops nationwide.

Lucy, whose family run Duloe Post Office, said: Ive always written here and there so I just started writing out of boredom when I was off school. I didnt think anything of it at the time but a couple of years later, when I was clearing out my cupboards after my GCSEs, I found the handwritten pages again and thought this could be something. I typed it up and sent it to the Book Guild and they accepted it I signed the contract the day after my GCSE results.

Lucy, who passed all of her GCSEs despite home-schooling herself throughout the two- year course, said her achievements have come as a shock to her.

Its only really sinking in now, she said.

Ive been working with the publisher for the past year but it was only when I got a copy of the book through in the post and saw my name in print that it seems real. Its been my ambition to have a book published since I was a little girl so in a way I feel really fulfilled already even though Im only 17.