Corby woman writes novel inspired by time working at Lakelands Hospice

A woman from Corby has written a book inspired by her time working at Lakelands Hospice.

There All Along, is the first novel written by Karen Rymarz and published by Olympia Publishers. Inspiration for the book came from her time working at Lakelands as it centres around a woman working in a struggling hospice.

The book is a work of contemporary women’s fiction. It centres around main character Sam, fundraising manager at Green Meadow Hospice.

Green Meadow holds a special place in Sam's heart, and she is as dedicated to its survival as she is to sparking romance between her and love interest Ross Carrington, the handsome, enigmatic son of an influential board member at Green Meadow.

Karen said: “The ideas came from my time working there but it’s purely fictional. It’s all from my head.

“It’s typical of that kind of genre, with a strong female lead, following her trials.

“It’s a nice, upbeat, feel good kind of read.”

Similarly to her main character, Karen worked in the fundraising department of Lakelands for about five years.

Karen said: “It was a lovely job to have, a lot of it was about putting on events and raising awareness and money for the hospice to keep running, to help all the patients it helps.

“It is a difficult job fundraising, especially when times are tough for everybody. You do have to rely on the help from volunteers and supporters in the community but it’s a very worthwhile job when you see what you can achieve, what the hospice can do for people and how it can help the families of people going through illnesses.

“I know that Lakelands is very well thought of in Corby because it does so much to help people.”

Karen is originally from the West Midlands but moved to Corby about 15 years ago and has called it home ever since.

Karen said: “We moved here and we didn’t want to leave. Just one of those where we needed to be here, it was a good central place for my husband's work and we sort of fell in love with the place once we got here.”

There All Along is available to purchase on Amazon and can also be found at Waterstones.