‘DEAR Joseph,

I am in a terrible dilemma and cannot find a solution. You are the only true friend I have, and I need your wise counsel urgently.’

Father Samuel was in desperate need of help. He craved answers, searching for a possible solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem.

‘Here was a man whose godliness was being stripped a little…replaced by human cravings rather than spiritual.’

Author Daniela Taylor, writing as Pamela Blake, weaves the threads of the tale surrounding this man of the cloth, expertly twisting it among the damaged lives of others, spanning three generations.

Lives ruined as a result of a sinful act perpetrated by a father against his daughter, in 1937 pre-war Bradford.

Daniela, from Liversedge, drew on real-life experiences as a young girl growing up in Italy to write her first novel ‘Eden’s Apple, a story of childhood abuse and its far-reaching consequences.

“It is based on actual events that took place,” says the 70-year-old mother-of-four and grandmother, “Something similar happened to me when I was six years old; it relates to some extent to my own life.”

This helped her when writing, allowing her to express the thoughts and feelings that she once had.

“I have a lot of sympathy with my heroine,” she says. “You learn to cope with it, it is always there, no matter how old you are. It has consequences for generations. This is an issue that you hear about all the time.”

It was the case of Elisabeth Fritzl held captive for 24 years by her father Josef that gave Daniela the idea for the book. “I was so shocked by that - it set me into thinking about the consequences of something like that.”

The well-written book centres on three areas, child abuse, religious issues and drug abuse, delivering powerful messages.

It is about forbidden fruit, and what happens when temptation becomes too strong.

“The story flowed really well - it was a challenge but I loved writing it,” she says. It took her around three years “on and off.”

Moving to the UK aged 16, Daniela completed her education as a mature student in her fifties. She studied for a diploma in creative writing followed by a BA in literary studies.

Previously, she had written a novella, a poetry book, a short play and an autobiography.

She writes under a pseudonym. “I chose Blake after the artist William Blake, who I really like,” she says. The title of the book is a reference to the apple in the Garden of Eden, which Eve is forbidden to pick.

Beginning in pre-war Bradford, the paths taken by the central characters hark back to a sinful act perpetrated by a father against his daughter. The wrongdoing changed the lives of three generations.

Rose’s troubled past haunts her forever, Lucy seduces a man of the cloth, with devastating consequences and Samuel journeys through his own problems, that threaten to overwhelm him.

Daniela is pleased with the feedback she has received.

“It has been amazing - I am over the moon.”

*Eden’s Apple by Pamela Blake is published by Xlibris and is available from Amazon and as a Kindle edition.