A NORTH Craven woman has written a new novel that tells a story of love, heartbreak, betrayal and murder and is set in the Yorkshire Dales.

Novelist Diane Allen, of Long Preston, has penned The Mistress of Windfell Manor, which was published in October and is her fifth novel.

The Mistress of Windfell Manor, set in 1860, tells the story of Charlotte Booth who has led a charmed life, raised by her father and their housekeeper on their beloved Crummock Farm in the Yorkshire Dales.

But after the death of her grandfather, her father is keen to see her married to a suitable gentleman.

Newly-arrived businessman Joseph Dawson seems perfect: handsome, rich and the owner of the beautiful Windfell Manor.

Charlotte quickly falls in love with the dashing mill owner and within six months, the two of them are married.

But life as lady of the manor is not what Charlotte expected. Joseph is a different man to the one she married.

She tries to turn a blind eye to Joseph’s short temper and long absences, but when a young mill worker is found murdered in the river and her husband disappears, she must face the fact that Joseph is not what he seems.

Diane was born in Leeds but raised at her family’s farm deep in the Yorkshire Dales.

After working as a glass engraver, raising a family and looking after an ill father, she found her true niche in life, joining a large print publishing firm in 1990.

Rising through the firm, she is now the general manager and has recently been made honorary vice president of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

In 2012, the first of her Yorkshire Dales sagas For the Sake of her Family was published.

Speaking about her novels, Diane said: "I hope that my writing reflects my love of the Yorkshire Dales, my family’s roots being there for centuries. I aim to include in my writing my love of family life and the gritty realism that life in the Dales throws at you."

Diane lives with her husband Ronnie in Long Preston. They have two children and four grandchildren.

The Mistress of Windfell Manor, published by Pan, retails at £6.99 in paperback.