AN Amesbury woman has released her first book at aged 50 – despite only learning to read just over a year ago.

When Anita McCarthy left school, she could not read, which made navigating life difficult.

But her life has been transformed thanks to the literacy charity Read Easy.

Before Anita met up with South and East Wiltshire Read Easy coach, Kay, she knew all the letters of the alphabet but none of the sounds.

Thanks to assistance from Kay, Anita has now produced a book called A Year in the Life of Anita.

Kay said: “Our idea was that we should take Anita’s life and put that into some sort of format that interested her and enabled her to pick up more words.”

Anita said: “It was me that came up with the idea of writing the book.”

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Kay explained that as part of the process of making the book, Anita dictated the words to Kay.

They both then came up with drafts and made decisions about what to put in and what to leave out.

Reading words with personal connections to her life experiences proved to be a powerful tool.

When asked what the process meant to Anita, she said: “It has made me happy but also [shocked] that I’ve done it.”

Thanks to Kay’s work, Anita can now read a lot of the book herself.

Anita, who presented the book to her proud mum at Christmas, says she loves working with Kay.

Anita added: “I was quite nervous to begin with and I thought I wasn’t going to go. I’m not perfect.

“Now I’m proud of what I’m doing, and I’m happy.”

Anita is a keen volunteer in Salisbury, with the new author helping out at Oxfam and the Children’s Society. She combines that work with her two weekly sessions with Kay in Salisbury Library.

South and East Wiltshire Read Easy, which is affiliated with the national Read Easy organisation, is a literacy charity that provides free one-to-one coaching in public places like the library that also have some quiet areas to work.

Anyone who is looking to become a coach for Read Easy is asked to email sewrecruiter@readeasy.org.uk or call 07942382318.