A FORMER pub landlady who had a secret passion for writing has self-published her first novel.

June Stump, from Berkeley, said she has had a whirlwind month after releasing her chick-lit novel Five Weeks on Amazon, under the pen name June Hopkins.

"It has been a really fun month," said June, 45, who works as a HR advisor at Berkeley Nuclear Site. "The response from friends and local people has been brilliant."

June said she loved writing in her spare time but had never shown anyone her work and none of her friends even knew about her secret hobby.

But after going back to her half-finished novel Five Weeks the mother-of-two decided to show a close friend.

"She really enjoyed it and so I showed a few work friends and they all started asking what happened next."

So June finished the novel and published it on Amazon on the Kindle App, which you can also use on ordinary PCs as well as iPhones ad other smart phones.

It tells the story of 27-year-old single mother Annie Farnsworth who since the birth of her son has kept the identity of the father from everyone including the dad.

The only one person knows the truth is her best friend Lissa who has just announced that she is to be married and Tom the secret father is coming home to be the best man.

The book chronicles the next five rollercoaster weeks.

June said she got some of the inspiration for many of the situations I the book after her seven year stint as the landlady of The Boars Head in Berkeley.

"The characters are made up but certainly I have taken inspiration from people I have met and some of the scenarios are things that have happened in real life, not necessarily to me.

"Local people might notice some localisms about Berkeley," added June, who was born and bred in Berkeley.

She is at work on two new novels with the hope of publishing another in the future. For now she is just having fun.

"I am not expecting to become a published author. The last month has been a whirlwind and it has been really nice to receive nice comments from local people," June added. Five Weeks by June Hopkins is £2.99 to download from Amazon.