FOR years, the reasons behind the death of an Accrington nurse in the 1930s were hidden in silence.

Today another lass from the town has released a fictional biography about the girl who left home in 1899 to train as a nurse in London but died in unsavoury circumstances when she returned.

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Author Janet Reeves said: “With the help of her family I have unlocked the silence that has surrounded her forgotten life.

“To preserve their anonymity I have changed their names and Accrington comes under the guise of Hartsbeck.

“Ellie Elkson and her family are loosely based on the characters and lives of a real Accrington family from 1890 to 1933 but I have had to fill in many gaps through imagination and knowledge of those times.”

Janet, nee Hitchen, was born in Accrington in 1945 and attended Woodnook Infants, Peel Park County Juniors and Accrington High School.

She has fond memories of belonging to the local naturalists group as a youngster.

She was first encouraged to write by Miss Addison, her headmistress at Woodnook, even sending Janet a letter when she was 21, urging her to write books.

Janet worked as a library assistant in Accrington/Hyndburn library for several years before training as a professional librarian.

In the seventies she was assistant children’s and schools’ librarian before she married the Rev John Reeves, then Vicar of St. Augustine’s Church, Huncoat, in 1978.

Two of their three children, Frank and John were born while they lived in Huncoat Vicarage, their third child, Margaret, being born a month after they left.

Silence Unlocked looks back at Ellie’s life from her childhood, to her rebellious decision in 1899 to leave her family and pursue a career in nursing and midwifery.

Ranging backwards and forwards to the lives of her family in East Lancashire, the narrative tells of the horrors of World War 1 and includes the story of celebrated war heroine Margaret Baron, from Clayton-le-Moors.

Added Janet: “Through this novel I hope I have helped to restore the memory of this heroic woman’s life from being discarded by the manner of her death. “ l Silence Unlocked by Janet M Reeves is available at Amazon.com.