Keeping a secret during a big family Christmas proved a hard task for author Jane Gardam, 80, from Sandwich.

She knew she was on the verge of being made an OBE in the New Year Honours list and desperately wanted to share her news.

“I was told about six weeks in advance, but told not to breathe a word.”

Determination won the day and when the announcements were made officially she was finally able to share her secret.

As one of the most prolific novelists of her generation, the honour was made to for her services to literature.

She first wrote stories as a child and hid them in a chimney in her room. Unfortunately, while suffering from chicken pox, a fire was lit in her bedroom and her chapters went up in smoke.

She started writing seriously when her three children had grown up and her first book was published in her late 30s. Her work includes children’s titles, short stories, novels and non-fiction.

Mrs Gardam has won many prizes for her work, including the Whitbread for best novel twice for The Hollow Land, 1981, and The Queen of the Tambourine, 1991.

She moved to Harnet Street, Sandwich, with her husband David 20 years ago.

The couple have three children and five grandchildren, who helped celebrate the OBE announcement while spending their Christmas in Sandwich.