Legal eagle Robert's new chapter as a children's author

Robert Powell is celebrating the release of his debut novel aimed at children called Odd Socks.

It imagines a world where socks have feelings and emotions and takes the reader on an adventure into the town of Socksville.

Robert wrote the story on his smart phone on his daily train journey to London where he works in the legal sector.

He said: “I’ve always loved writing and generally being creative. During my life I’ve written lots of songs, poetry and short stories and I was singer frontman in a band called Cinemawave.

“I got the idea for Odd Socks from my father-in-law who used to moan about his socks always going missing and he would end up with odd socks.

“I got thinking about what would happen if the missing socks missed each other and had feelings and emotions.

“All of a sudden this world began to formulate in my mind.”

In the story the villain is called Mr Foot who owns a factory producing all of the socks in the world.

His fed-up twin children Frankie and Junior embark on the adventure of a lifetime to bring down Mr Foot’s business empire with the help of a pair of odd socks and an international party of socks and clothing accessories.

Robert, who previously lived in Caledonian Road and attended St Aidan’s Primary School and Brierton secondary school, wrote Odd Socks in 18 months.

He then began the search for a publisher and after receiving two positive responses chose Blossom Spring Publishing.

Robert, who lives in Hertfordshire with his wife Lisa and their two young children, cites Roald Dahl as one of his literary heroes and also admires the books of David Walliams.

He said: “Growing up I read a lot of Nancy Drew books. I think I have developed my own style because I didn’t plan to write Odd Socks.

“I am developing it even further now with Odd Socks 2.”

Odd Socks is out now and is available at Waterstones, Barnes & Noble in America, and on Amazon in ebook and paperback.