There must be something in the water in Farnham for it to produce so many writers. Latest in the lit pack is Lynette Lowthian, who has a cogent message about dysfunctional families and the damage one generation can inflict on the next.

Lynette’s first novel, a psychological thriller called The Gene Genie, has just been published in paperback. It’s set in London in 1978, the year of the winter of discontent when Britain was brought to its knees, and focuses on twin girls Annie and Bea who are separated at birth in shocking circumstances and go on to face very different futures.

Raising vital questions about family, identity, pain and loss, the book explores the way the past stalks the present, transferring enduring heartache from one generation to the next.

Lynette said: “Twins allowed me to explore some of life’s burning issues more closely: can you change the path of your own destiny? Or escape the emotional scars passed down by your parents? Are you shaped by the circumstances of your birth, or by what happens to you? Or simply by who you are?

“I hope that one of the big takeaway messages is that, yes, there are a few bad people out there. But most of us are not bad. We are victims of the often invisible scars life inflicts on us.”

Lynette, who lives in north Farnham, will be taking part in the Farnham Literary Festival from March 3 to 12.