A MOTHER from the Cotswolds is shooting to the top of the literary world, after releasing a new book aimed at women dealing with divorce.

Phyllida Wilson, from Coates, penned A Women's Guide to Divorce, with her Southampton friend Maxine Pillinger after both women went through especially difficult separations in 2007.

The friends, who met at university, interviewed judges, solicitors, elderly couples, young couples, and children of parents who had been divorced - across a period of 18 months to do all the necessary research for the book. They then wrote it in just six months and successfully found a publisher on their first try.

"Divorce is a serious subject," said Phyllida, who has two children. "We wrote it to help and support women. When you get divorced you hear all this legal jargon but you think this isn't making sense. There are lots of myths flying around about the subject. Celebrities go through quick divorces but Maxine's took more than two and a half years."

Their book is currently being sold all over the world both in shops and online. Phyllida said in the UK she has seen the book in Waterstones, WH Smith, Amazon and Sainsbury's.

The women are also starting to be noticed more thanks to their book and have appeared in magazine Tatler and BBC Radio Gloucestershire. On April 22 they hosted the official launch of A Woman’s Guide To Divorce at the Grace Belgravia Club in London.

Phyllida added that it was really exciting seeing the book in print for the first time and that she hopes to write other books in the future, with the aim to help more people. See womansguideto.com for more information.