BESTSELLING author Kate Lord Brown, from Dulverton, is celebrating the launch of her new novel 'The Golden Hour' with Taunton Literary Festival at Brendon Books on October 16.

She said: “I'm really delighted to be coming back to Brendon Books. Taunton is lucky to have such a vibrant independent bookstore and I'm thrilled to be talking about the new paperback with them.”

Published in April of this year the book has been described as by fellow novelist Ruth Hogan as “An exquisite story of love and the enduring power of friendship...The Golden Hour is pure gold.”

From Cairo 1939 on the eve of the war and then thirty years later to 1970s Beirut on the eve of yet another conflict, The Golden Hour is an epic dual timeline story which interweaves glory-seeking desert archaeologists, priceless treasures, Nefertiti’s tomb and the decadent cabarets of WW2 Cairo with restless expat lives in bohemian Beirut.

Archaeologist Lucie Fitzgerald's mother is dying – she's also been lying. As her home, the 'Paris of the East', Beirut, teeters on the brink of war in the ‘70s, Polly Fitzgerald has one last story to tell from her deathbed. It’s the story of her childhood best friend Juno and their life in 30s Cairo. Lucie travels home to be with her dying mother and discovers the truth about her family, Juno's work and their shared search for the greatest undiscovered tomb of all - Nefertiti's.

From the cities to the deserts, this transporting and moving story of a lost generation transformed by war is a study of great love and sacrifice in all its forms.

Kate was a finalist in ITV's The People's Author contest, and her novel The Perfume Garden was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2014.

Tickets for the launch during Taunton Literary Festival are available via Brendon Books or on their website.