Lyme Regis based R.E. Brooker pens new fantasy novel

Rachel Brooker, 36, who writes under the name R.E. Brooker, is hoping that her new book Will Worthington and the Black Rainbow will enchant a new generation of fantasy readers.

Growing up hooked on J.K. Rowling’s best-selling stories, the book will be released on Halloween and has already garnered support with more than 5,000 people watching the launch video of the novel.

Miss Brooker, who is diagnosed with A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder), said she is ‘proud’ to be a neuro-divergent writer, and spent 10 years writing 50 Harry Potter fan fictions and has a fanbase of 31,600 followers on X (Twitter). 

Like her literary heroine J.K. Rowling did, Miss Brooker wrote much of her book in a café, in her case The Galley Café in Lyme Regis.

She said: “I’m a big Potterhead, besides writing Harry fan fiction I was an extra in the film of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince and I worked as a tour guide at the Harry Potter studios. But what I’ve always wanted most is to write my own book.

“I didn’t go into this thinking I was going to write a children’s book. I went with the idea that I’m going to write a book that I would love to read and hopefully you can tell the passion that I have for it. I just wanted everything that I loved to read when I was younger; personal conflict, quirkiness and gadgets.”

Rachel Brooker with her new book (Image: Rachel Brooker) The book, which took Miss Brooker 16 years to write, tells the story of 13-year-old Will who goes to Austria on a school trip, gets lost in a blizzard and finds himself in Austassa, a quirky, floating land where his nightmares become a reality.

Tasked with killing The Black Rainbow, a monstrous molten-lava invention which threatens to destroy all of Austassa, Will also fights to evade the clutches of his piano-playing mastermind foster brother, Kazamir Kirrolivitch, whose aim is to destroy Will.

As part of the process, Miss Brooker sent the first few chapters of the book off to her former teacher at Talavera Junior in Aldershot, after a chance meeting on the south coast to gauge pupils’ reactions.

The teacher, Ms Cooper, said the children ‘loved’ the book, which made Miss Brooker continue penning her novel which took 16 years altogether to write.

Miss Brooker said: “I was thrilled to learn that children love the book, it took me sixteen years to write it so this is a great reward.”

Local bookshops will be stocking the fantasy novel, which Miss Brooker will launch with a signing session at The Lyme Regis Bookshop on Halloween. It is also available from The Bookshop in Bridport, The Archway, and Swish & Flick, both in Axminster.

Miss Brooker will also be doing a reading and signing at Swish & Flick on Saturday, November 2, which the specialist Harry Potter shop has declared Harry Potter Theme Day.