WRITING her first novel helped a Bridport author after the death of her husband.

So the fact that Maria Donovan’s novel The Chicken Soup Murder has made it to the final shortlist of three for the Dundee International Book Prize is doubly thrilling.

Maria Donovan, 54, is one of three finalists whose debut novels have been chosen from entries that came from four continents.

Their work will be judged by broadcaster Fred MacAulay, award-winning writer Denise Mina, Creative Scotland’s Jenny Niven, Dundee Honorary graduate Danny Wallace and literary agent Ed Wilson.

If Maria wins with her novel The Chicken Soup Murder she’ll get a publishing deal with Cargo Publishing and £10,000, the largest cash prize for unpublished work in the UK.

Maria said: “I’m delighted to be one of the three finalists. The competition is tough and I’d love to win but my main hope is that my novel, The Chicken Soup Murder, will be published.

“I’ve always thought of myself as a short story writer and this novel represents such a long period of sustained work that I’d be thrilled if it were to find a readership. I had wondered if it would go into a drawer marked ‘experience’ so it was a happy surprise to find that it had made the shortlist.”

She said the novel is mainly set in a fictional version of Bridport and the first draft was written as fast as possible – almost in real time.

She added: “It took me another year to re-write it. The novel covers a period from May 2012 to January 2013 and in the background are real events such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics. I wanted to feel that the characters, preoccupied as they are by their own concerns, were living a real life marked by things going on around them. I don’t usually work like this and I’ve never tried writing in the voice of ten-year-old boy before, but I needed these challenges.

“I named the boy in the story Michael, after my late husband, Mike Street. It was a comfort to have his name with me while I was writing it.

“I also have Mike to thank for the title because, way back in 2004, when we were living in Melplash, he nearly killed me with a pan of chicken soup.

“Exactly how that happened is set out in the novel. Mike said it was an accident and we laughed about it but I often told him I’d write something one day with the title The Chicken Soup Murder.

“So I had the title for a long time but didn’t know what the story would become. After Mike died, I lost the will to write for a while.

“Devoting myself to this novel gave me a purpose again and helped bring me back to life. I’d like to think that the laughter we shared is echoed in the novel, as well as some of the sadness.”

The winner will be announced during the annual Dundee Literary Festival in October.