A fictionaL sheep farm between Keighley and Skipton is the setting for a Harrogate woman's latest novel.

Julia Clarke's teenage story You Lose Some, You Win Some is being released by leading publisher Oxford University Press.

The novel follows a farming family's fight for survival in the aftermath of the foot and mouth epidemic.

Narrated by 17-year-old Cesca, Julia's story begins two years ago near the end of the outbreak.

She examines the effects on Cesca's family and the local economy as farms lose their animals, visitors stay away and rural businesses struggle to keep going.

Julia's previous four teenage novels have been published by HarperCollins and Oxford University Press, and she previously wrote six romantic novels.

A former actress and teacher, Julia has lived in rural Yorkshire for the past 26 years and is gaining increasing acclaim for her writing.

She said: "The foot and mouth outbreak devastated farmers and everyone living in rural areas was affected in some way.

"When I sat down to start a new novel I found I could not write about anything else.

"I wanted to try to get behind the harrowing media reports and examine, in a very personal way, how the outbreak affected one teenage girl."