Llanwrtyd Wells author Kathy Biggs is set to release her new novel, Attention All Shipping, a tender and hopeful tale about the complexities of losing and finding family.

The story follows father and daughter, Jack and Grace, as they embark on a journey from the Welsh valleys to Whitby, searching for both the missing piece of their family and themselves. The book will be published by HarperCollins on Thursday, May 8.

Kathy, originally from Yorkshire, moved to Wales in the 1980s. She told the Brecon and Radnor Express: “Grace goes back to live with her dad, Jack, who has dementia. The story starts when she’s coming home from work on a dark evening. Her dad is in a bit of a state, and she spends the next couple of hours trying to sort things out. Jack tells her a young girl has been to see them, and that’s what the story is about.”

Living on a crumbling farm in Wales, Jack lost his son Michael in a tragic accident at sea many years ago, and the young woman who turns up on their farm claims to be Michael’s daughter. But how can this be, seeing as he died before she was born?

“It was a joy to write,” Kathy said, who has written two other books, titled The Luck and Scrap.

“I can’t say it came easy, it never does. But with this book I drew a lot on my own experiences. When I started the book a lot of it came from my own experience of looking after my own dad when he had dementia. I think there’s a lot of my dad in the character of Jack. I’m not there in the Grace character, but I have an understanding of what it’s like for family members, and perhaps women, of being in that position and looking after a parent who isn’t well. It’s not gloomy. There’s a lot of fun in Jack and a lot of humour in how they manage their tricky relationship. It’s not a normal father-daughter relationship.”

Drawing on her own experiences was an emotional journey for Kathy.

“It came naturally,” she said.

“I don’t plot ahead. I know where I started and know where I'm going, but getting there is a loose thing. It was an emotional thing to look after my own dad, and I think I managed to get that feeling of being a responsible person, the weight of that responsibility, into the book.”

This marks Kathy’s debut with a Big Five publisher, one of the world’s five major publishing houses. The book will also be translated into German and released as an audiobook.

“It’s a different experience,” Kathy said, who first published with Honno, a Welsh women's press, based in Aberystwyth.

“I loved being with Honno. It was a big decision, but it was the only choice to take this book as far as it could go.”

The book launch is on Friday, May 9 at Victoria Hall in Llanwrtyd at 6pm.