A SOUTHAMPTON woman has told how she coped with the grief of the sudden death of her husband by writing her first novel with him as the romantic hero of the story.

Former dancer Lynda Chehade, who grew up in Thornhill and now lives in Thornhill Park, has had her book Kousbawi published by New Generation Publishing and it is receiving glowing feedback from readers.

The book is based on the true love story of her relationship with her late husband Nicolas who she met while working as a dancer in the Middle East.

Lynda originally trained in ballroom and then classical ballet in Southampton.

Aged just 16, she moved to London to train and pursue a career as a ballet dancer. But her dreams of becoming a ballerina were dashed due to an accident in rehearsals where she caught her ballet point in a floor board and broke her foot.

What followed was an exciting career as a professional dancer, working with top artists and choreographers, one of whom was Arlene Philips. She travelled the world to places such as Africa, India, Scandinavia, Europe and the Middle East, and appeared as a dancer on cruise ships, and various television shows, including the Paul Daniels show for ITV, and the BBC’s Sea-Side Special.

It was while working with vocal dance act ‘Summer Lovin’ in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates that she met and fell in love with Nicolas. Nicolas was Lebanese originating from Kousba in the north of Lebanon.

Lynda explained how his untimely and sudden death, at the age of 58, from a heart attack four years ago kick-started her writing which ultimately saved her life.

Lynda said: “The shock and grief, along with the depression that followed, was so intense I needed an outlet. During this very dark period, channelling my emotions creatively through writing was hugely cathartic, and gave a brief respite from a tragic, and heartbreaking situation, which otherwise overwhelmed me.

“The concept of writing a book emerged out of the blue. While sitting in my garden one day consumed with numbing grief, I attempted to put my thoughts into words. Four hours later I was still writing, and realised I had in fact written the beginning of what was to become my first novel. I honestly do not know how I would have survived the shock of losing my husband the way I did, had I not found a means by which to channel my grief.

“After his death I was in a terrible place. I was heart-broken. He was my rock and the love of my life. I ended up in a very dark place and I found it good to write and channel my thoughts.

“I noticed while I was writing I was released from the grief and awful depression. I wasn’t accepting his death so I made him the hero of my writing. Once I stopped writing the grief was back again.”

Nicolas died in 2012 after a heart attack. Lynda says the little bit of grief counselling she tried two years ago didn’t help her but the two years it took to write this book did: “Writing has been my life-line, and as any one who has suffered a similar loss will know, you never get over it, you just learn to live your life around the grief. I’ve suffered from depression since. Writing is cathartic and in my imagination he is still alive.

Writing has really helped me.“

Fortunately Lynda loves her new-found profession: “I love writing. Luckily I’ve never had writer’s block although I have days where I don’t feel like it. If I feel like that for a few days I have to push myself. But I could sit for eight to ten hours and I’d only stop because I couldn’t see the screen any more. I’d sit all that time with no drink or food as I’d be so absorbed in it. So I dedicated two years of my life to writing it.”

Lynda was living in the United Emirates with Nicolas when he died. She was on a trip to England when she was told of his death. They had started an antiques business together.

“We were really looking forward to the future. We had lots of things in the pipeline and there were lots going on. My life was like a constant honeymoon. He was the love of my life.

“Because of the visa regulations I had to keep leaving Abu Dhabi to renew my visa; he was a foreigner too. I was in England to sort out some antiques. I was due to go back the next week then I suddenly got a call from my step-brother to say he had passed away.

“The day before we had been on Skype for four hours. He died suddenly from a heart-attack. A few months before, we talked about our future and going back to Lebanon and our old age together and I felt lucky I had this wonderful husband to grow old with. But my life was suddenly turned upside down.

“I felt like I was in a parallel universe. I wasn’t allowed to stay in Abu Dhabi. I had 30 days. I lost everything and had to start again. I was in my 20s when I met him and this Christmas it would have been 34 years since we first met in 1982. We weren’t together all that time because of the situation and obstacles that are all described in the book. The story spans three decades.

“For 15 years I lived in Abu Dhabi with him. We both felt that with everything we’d been through that this was our time. Finally we had the time and space and the future was looking good.”

Now she says Kousbawi is not the end of the story as she has already started work on the sequel also inspired by “the far too short life” of her husband.

“The sequel is total fiction. The character is Kousbawi still – my husband – and I’m trying to keep him as close to how he was.

“My life has changed so drastically from what it was. It was like someone has pulled the carpet from under me. He was much too young to go and it was unexpected with no illness.

“I felt so lucky as a woman to have him in my life. No one is perfect but he was perfect to me.”