A Wirral author launched her latest novel to a packed audience at Waterstones in Liverpool One this week.

Caroline Smailes, signed copies of Like Bees to Honey and also read from her book, which is partially set in Liverpool.

Caroline said: "I expected about ten people to turn up, but in the end over one hundred made the trip into Liverpool. It’s left me full of gratitude and humbled that so many would choose to celebrate Like Bees to Honey’s launch with me.

"The story is a tribute to my grandparents who met during WWII in Malta. My grandma was a Maltese catholic girl and my granddad a non-catholic English soldier. They fell in love and this resulted in my grandma being ostracised from her family. The story that I tell is set on the island of Malta, inspired by childhood summers spent there, by my grandparents' story, by tradition, by folklore and by a need to understand the Maltese culture."

Like Bees to Honey is a story of family, redemption and ghosts and is on sale from May 27.