Grieving mother's memoir wins book award

The title of Carolyn Mayling's book is in honour of her late daughter

A woman who has grieved the death of a child, lived with cancer and struggled to conceive with IVF has won an award for her memoir.

Carolyn Mayling from Maidenhead, Berkshire, titled her book "The Future is Rosie" in honour of her late daughter.

She said she was "super proud of it" after she won the People's Book Prize Beryl Bainbridge Award earlier this month.

In 2004, Ms Mayling set up Rosie's Rainbow Fund, a charity supporting very sick and disabled children and their families.

Ms Mayling's daughter Rosie died in 2003 at the age of 11

Her 11-year-old daughter Rosie died from vasculitis, a rare condition that destroys blood vessels by causing inflammation, on 14 May 2003.

Ms Mayling said she remembers Rosie "was a completely well child", adding that the family still does not understand how she became ill.

Following her daughter's death, she said the family "were sent back to our normal life but the bottom had fallen out of our world".

"There's an awful lot in the book, it's not only about grief, there's an awful lot more," said Ms Mayling.

The author explained it covers how she founded the charity, her "five-year journey with IVF", how she has raised her children and lived through breast cancer.

'Joy to be found'

Speaking to Radio Berkshire, she said: "I hadn't originally intended for it to be a book, it was just my life, the rollercoaster of my life.

"It didn't really ever cross my mind that anyone would want to publish my story."

She said friends and family encouraged her to write the book and diaries she has kept throughout her life helped her revisit her memories.

"It was quite difficult and I just had to face my demons and get on with it," she said, describing finishing the book as "a bit of an epiphany".

"I believe that despite anything that you go through, whether you go through the worst possible grief or the worst possible journeys and ups and downs, that actually there is joy to be found at the end of it," she said.