Kirtling author inspired by the struggles of a duck attempting to make friends with chickens

Despite reading the occasional poem to her children, Mel Broughton, who lives in Kirtling, never considered herself a writer until a trip to the local livestock market changed everything.

“I joined a book club 18 years ago and have always enjoyed reading, but I never considered myself a writer,” she said.

“I was inspired to begin writing when I saw this little duck at a livestock market. I already had chickens, so when I saw this little duck in a cage, I had to bring her home.

“After a few days in with my chickens I went out one day to find I couldn’t hear her quacking and when I checked on her, the chickens were shunning poor Daisy and bullying her – it was heartbreaking.

“So I went back to the market and bought two duck friends for her. Her confidence started to grow and her life turned around.”

Mel’s idea for her book first started taking shape in 2008, when she was inspired by her duck, Daisy, to write the opening verses of a poem.

The fledgling foundations of what would later become her book were then placed on hold until Mel’s own child experienced bullying and she was inspired to complete her work.

Before long, Mel had written a further 13 verses to complete her children’s poem, which spreads an anti-bullying message of smiling through and and kindness to others.

“It’s just a lovely story reminding children to keep smiling no matter what, because it’s
the most natural thing in a world when you smile at someone, for them to smile back,” said Mel.

“It’s great to remind children of that – to do more smiling, because it really is the key.”

The book, called Daisy Finds Her Smile, is being sold for £9.99 in Rocking Rabbit and the Horse Racing Museum, in Newmarket, along with Amazon.

During the book’s production, Mel worked with illustrator Sarah Alicia-Smith and editor Fiona Unwin, with friend Dave Papworth putting her in touch with Panoma Press, who agreed to publish the book.

“I do have some ideas bubbling away for another book and I would certainly like to do another at some stage,” she said.

“It might not be arriving for a while – after all, this one did take me 12 years to get finished.”