AN author has published a book about how she rebuilt her life through the freedom of living in a van in Cornwall.

Charlotte Bradman’s title The Happy Nomad is a self-confessional story of how she breaks free from her turbulent past, mounting debts and the nine-to-five treadmill, and finds a simpler way of life living full-time in her beloved campervan.

The writer, who secured a publishing deal after featuring in the Newquay Voice, is staging a book signing event to coincide with the publication of the title in paperback, which will be held at Clemo Books in Bank Street on Saturday, June 28 at 11.30am.

The Happy Nomad portrays how Charlotte finds joy in a life lived closer to nature. Stripped back to the very basics, no longer weighed down by material possessions, she discovers the precious gift of time, enabling her to connect with both herself and the people she meets, and to re-evaluate what it truly means to thrive.

Presenter Ben Fogle, who endorsed The Happy Nomad, said: ''A gripping, sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking account of how one woman lost everything and how, by stepping off the path, she found her way.''

Presenter Peg Alexander added: ''This book is tremendous. A book that takes you to places of real sadness and trauma.

“But also to the freedom and joy of saying no to stuff and debt, and hello to the open road with a joy and delight in life and people that enchants. With a dash of politics along the way, The Happy Nomad makes you really think about what it means to truly live rather than just have. And to ask what, really, does home mean to us as individuals. A wonderful, evocative, thoughtful delight of a book.''

Marine biologist Dr Wallace J Nichols, who is the author of Blue Mind, said: ''Proof that water in the form of driving rain, wild river, icy lake, or turquoise ocean can build back a body, mend a tattered mind, heal a broken heart, and soothe a weary soul.''