A MUM who wrote a book on maternity leave and ended up getting a publishing deal, has had to rely on word of mouth to publicise it, after coronavirus scuppered her promotion plans.

Helen Jones, who lives in Oxton Village, secured a deal for her children's book, Mrs Muddle, in 2019, after being persuaded to send it to publishers by her husband.

But the Wallasey-born author, who ordinarily works as an Executive Assistant for the Finance & Transformation Director at Merseyrail, had to park a planned book tour when the book was published in October 2020, due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions.

Speaking to the Globe, she said: "I wrote the book whilst I was on maternity leave in 2017 after having my daughter, Isla. I have always loved reading books and writing poetry and whilst reading to Isla, I was inspired to write a book.

Wirral Globe: Mrs Muddle is Helen Jones' first published bookMrs Muddle is Helen Jones' first published book

"I wrote it purely for the love of writing and as something to read to her, however my husband hounded me for two years until I finally gave in and agreed to send it to some publishers to see if there was any interest.

"I also had another two publishing offers, which I was completely stunned about. It had always been an ambition of mine to write a book and to be a published author, so I was absolutely thrilled when Olympia agreed to publish it.

"Having never published a book previously, it was certainly a learning curve and an adventure. I met my illustrator online and she lives in South America.

"The entire illustrating and publishing process was done online. Definitely a very 21st century way of working and it was fascinating."

Mrs Muddle is a children’s rhyming story aimed at teaching children to be kind and non-judgmental, whilst promoting diversity and encouraging children to celebrate each other’s differences.

Helen added: "I was planning to do a lot of publicity for my book, however due to the pandemic (like so many other things) I wasn’t able to do any book tour/ book signings or readings at local schools and book shops.

"I was extremely disappointed as I had so looked forward to doing these. I have relied purely on word of mouth and social media to spread the message about my book."

Mrs Muddle is available now from outlets including Amazon, Waterstones and The Book Depository.