Yeovil author targets the more mature and their experiences

Those are some of the themes a recently published Yeovil-based woman has explored in her new novel, Life in Three Acts.

 

Avid reader Shirley van der Bank, who grew up with a single mother in South Petherton, moved to Hertfordshire where she lived for 16 years and gave birth to two sons. Then came a transformative move to South Africa where she went through marriage break-ups and from where she returned to Somerset in 1985 where her sons were at school in Yeovil.

 

"I started my book some years ago and started and stopped, re-wrote and updated until finally, with help and support by my long-term partner, I completed it last year with it being published on 2nd June 2025," Shirley said. "I have always been an avid reader and in my mind, I knew I could write a book."

 

The book specifically targets more mature people who have been through difficult experiences such as bereavement and divorce, events she describes as "earth shatteringly daunting."

 

"All the books that I was reading seemed to be about young people, but I know that having to start your life again after a marriage break-up, bereavement, or for many other reasons, can be life-changing both for women and men," she said. "My book encompasses betrayal, tragedy, survival, success, love and passion - in fact, every emotion life can throw at you."