Little Miss Daisy

LITTLE MISS DAISY GROWS IN POPULARITY

Iain Ferguson Thirty one years after penning a story which helped teach her youngest son about the seasons of the year, Anetta Steel from Claggan is sharing it with a world wide audience as the published author of ‘Little Miss Daisy’.

Anetta was a nurse in the Belford Hospital when she had the idea, writing it down on pieces of paper so she could read it to Mark, now 34, a chef in Glasgow, when he was at playgroup and his brother, Keith, 39, who has since emigrated to Canada.

It proved popular with the boys but as they outgrew the story, the pages were put away, then lost over the years.

However a recent tidy out led to their rediscovery, page by page at diff erent locations rediscovery, page by page at diff erent locations around the house, until the book was complete. around the house, until the book was complete.

Husband John, well-known in the town as proprietor of ‘The Hyperhut’, suggested Anetta get it published and after a bit of research, came up with Stockwell Publishers which resulted in the book being illustrated and published.

Before making the fi nal decision to publish, Anetta did her own form of market research, reading it, she said, to ‘the wee boy next door’ to fi nd out if it still appealed to children, 31 year on.

The results were, of course, positive and the proof is now on the pages in the bookshops.

It is available on Amazon, in Waterstones and in The Highland Bookshop, 60 High Street, Fort William.

Originally from Shader on Lewis and a native Gaelic speaker, Anetta is considering a version in her mother tongue and as an exclusive Lochaber Life preview, she has given us a page with the original hand written words, the printed book and Gaidhlig version.