A VILLAGE author has published a book of short stories to raise money for cancer sufferers and their families.

Penny Destro's book Frothy Coffee is on sale for St Helena Hospice.

The retired journalist, of Main Road, Great Oakley, first put together the collection of very short tales with a twist in aid of the Cancer Society in Oman, where she lived for ten years.

It was sold in aid of a Mobile Breast Cancer Unit that brought a vital service to women living in rural areas.

Now retired and back in Essex, when her brother-in-law died last year, she decided to update the book and give all profits to St Helena Hospice.

Penny said: "The hospice does such wonderful work, not just with the patients, but with their families, too.

"But the cost of this service rises every year, and St Helena relies on donations.

"I’d like to think that if I or any of my loved ones needed their help, it would still be available."

All the stories in the book have been published in magazines, mostly in the UK and the Middle East, where Penny's husband worked in the Merchant Navy.

The new version of Frothy Coffee was launched at the opening of the new hospice shop in Coggeshall.

It costs £5 and is available from St Helena Hospice, its shop in Dovercourt, the Frinton Book Shop, the Books and Coffee Shop in Colchester, as well Experience Day Spa in Dovercourt and Harewood Surgery in Great Oakley.