A mother from Oxford has juggled a medical career and five children but this month will finally see her debut novel in print.

Dr Rachel Crowther won a nationwide competition to see The Partridge and the Pelican published on April 11.

But is has not been an easy ride.

The 46-year-old said: “I have been juggling writing with my medical career and the children for a long time.

“But I am proud that I managed to write this novel while working and having the children and so on.”

Dr Crowther has worked at the South East Public Health Observatory, in Cowley Road, for the past six years.

But she is now taking a well-earned break from her medical career to promote the book.

She said: “When I heard the book was going to be published, I decided to take some time off. I do not know what my long term plan is, but it has given me a bit of time to work on the second novel.

“I have never had much time to sit and write.”

Her book tells the story of two women who discover an abandoned baby in a phone box and the effect this has on their lives. It is largely set in and around Oxford.

Dr Crowther said: “The story is not based on my own life but I do like the idea of the journey they take.

“Although it is not about me there is quite a lot about motherhood and juggling children which has come from my own personal experience.”

And after years of work, she last week got to see what the final product will look like.

She said: “It has been very very exciting. It is a funny feeling when something that you have hoped for actually happens.”

But she was originally sceptical about showing the story to husband, Richard Pleming, an English teacher at St Edward’s School in Woodstock Road.

She said: “Being an English teacher, he judges every book by the same standard.

“So I was up against Jane Austen and the like. But luckily he liked it.”

The competition was run by London publishers Bookline and Thinker.

Hundreds of writers submitted their work and the winner was picked by book groups around the UK.

The book will be available to buy from Amazon, Ebooks and bookshops.