A TEENAGE girl has overcome the set-back of a debilitating medical condition to publish her first novel.

Fifteen-year-old Lauriane Povey, of Billingham, said her novel came to her in a nightmare about the death of her beloved, still-living grandfather when she was only 12.

The grade-A student is now in a dialogue with a bigger publisher about another book she has written about cyberbullying in schools.

Lauriane was a dedicated athlete involved in crosscountry running, karate, football and trampolining, but had to give all those sports up after she was diagnosed with joint hypermobility syndrome.

The syndrome means Lauriane’s bones pop out of their joints, a condition that can be relatively benign, but is severe in Lauriane’s case and often means she can hardly walk.

The pupil of St Michael’s RC Secondary School, in Billingham, was, like Mary Shelley with Frankenstein, inspired by a nightmare. But Lauriane laughed that she had not told her grandfather, Ken Turner, of Thornaby, that the dream of his death has inspired her debut novel.

She said: “I was 12 and I had this horrible dream about my grandad dying. I was still halfasleep as I sat on the sofa and started writing it down.

“In the story my grandad dies in a car crash, which isn’t how it happened in my dream, but my grandad’s going to get a bit of a shock when he reads this.”

Lauriane, who has already won an A* for her maths GCSE and is on course to receive As in biology, physics and chemistry, despite only just starting her final school year, spent well over a year writing the story.

“It was very hard to write,” she said. “It’s set in the past, present and future but all written in the first person. It’s for teenagers and it’s all about dreams becoming true.

“I wasn’t really thinking of writing a novel to be published, I just wanted to write this particular story.”

Lauriane’s mother, Lisa Clarke, read the story on the family computer and was so impressed she suggested sending it to publishers.

Eventually a new publisher, The Wacky Wordshop, agreed to publish the book, which is called Living A Nightmare.

It is available on Amazon to pre-order priced £7.99, but will be on general release on November 1. Lauriane hopes to become a writer, but also plans to be involved in politics and environmental issues when she grows up.