A mother who turned to writing to help her cope with the grief of losing a young son in a car crash will have her second book for children published later this month.

Sharon Marie Jones from Capel Bangor was left devastated after the death of her son Ned, along with his grandmother, on the A470 between Rhayader and Llangurig on Good Friday in 2016.

The 42-year-old mother-of-three released her first book, dedicated to Ned, Grace-Ella: Spells for Beginners, in September 2016.

Since then, she has been working on her second book, a process she said helped her deal with the grief of losing Ned.

Sharon’s second book, Grace-Ella: Witch Camp, will be published by Firefly Press on 30 September.

“Writing my second book has been a completely different journey to the one that most authors will experience,” Sharon – a graduate of Aberystwyth University and former teacher at Pontrhydfendigaid primary school – told the Cambrian News.

“I started to write Grace-Ella: Witch Camp, at the beginning of 2016. I was thrilled that my publishers wanted to develop Grace-Ella into a series. I had so many magical adventures I wanted to write about and my hope was to have the sequel publish a year later.

“Writing a second book, you’re obviously very aware of the expectation to deliver another publishable story. This could have left me in a quivering knot of anxiety, but I was enjoying the process too much to let it affect me. I didn’t allow myself to feel pressured in any way.

“I was growing in confidence as a writer, developing my craft, and felt comfortable with my writing style.

“But, on Good Friday, 2016, everything changed. My five-year-old little boy, Ned, died in a horrific car crash and my whole world shattered.

“In the months that followed, I continued to write; I wrote pieces about the pain and grief I was experiencing, in an attempt to make some sense of what had happened to me and my family."

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