Blind author Trish Vickers dies day book is published

A blind author whose dying wish was to have her book published passed away the day it came off the presses.

Trish Vickers had terminal cancer and had put out an appeal to have Grannifer's Legacy printed.

The 64-year-old lost her sight 11 years ago and wrote the book by hand, but 26 pages were blank as she did not realise her pen had run out of ink.

A local firm was able to publish the book within two weeks, but the Charmouth resident died on Thursday.

Ms Vickers wrote the novel over six years and did not use a computer or Braille to write the novel.

She instead used a system of rubber bands and a clipboard to help guide the pen across the page.

Forensic experts from Dorset Police were able to recreate the words from the missing pages by analysing the indentation made by the pen on the page.

It was then given to Dorset-based publisher Magic Oxygen.

A book would usually take about six months to publish, but editor Simon West made every effort to get the book published before Ms Vickers died.

He said: "As soon as we met Trish we fell in love with her, but we soon realised that her condition was deteriorating and we needed to act fast.

"Sadly she passed on Thursday morning, and the book arrived two hours after she died.

"I'm absolutely elated we published the book within two weeks, and devastated that [Trish] was so cruelly taken before she could see the book."

Grannifer's Legacy is about a woman called Jennifer who discovers a book written by her great-grandmother.

It will be officially launched later at an awards ceremony in Lyme Regis, and part of any profits made will be donated to South West Talking Newspapers.