A FORMER Hereford Cathedral pupil has used her own experience to pen a new book which aims to help other women going through a divorce.

Phyllida Wilson, 49, has co-written A Woman's Guide To Divorce with friend Maxine

Pillinger.

It came after she discovered there was little material around to help her when she went through her own divorce in 2008 after being married for seven years.

Ms Wilson lived in the Aylestone Hill area of Hereford when she was younger before moving to London for university.

The book was written against the backdrop of her experience working in the legal system, having worked as marketing and client relationship managers for a number of commercial law firms in London and Bristol.

She also spent time working in advertising and spent two years working for HRH The Prince of Wales, organizing his international tours and engagements.

The book aims to 'help, inform and empower' women to take control over the process of separation and divorce and navigate through “no-man’s-land” to Decree Absolute.

Ms Wilson said: "We started to talk about it three years ago and started writing about 18 months ago. The writing only took between three and six months. Maxine came back from South Africa six or seven years ago and we realised we had both been through extreme circumstances and wanted to share what we had learnt with other women.

"When we were getting divorced there wasn't anything around that was supportive. "There was lots of stuff about the legal process but nothing about how you feel or how to prepare yourself."

Ms Wilson, who now lives in Cirencester with her two teenage children, said going through a divorce is 'traumatic by nature'

"It's horrendous even if it's vaguely civil," she said. "We wanted to make it an accessible read which women can literally carry around in a hand bag so if they need some support they can take it out.

"It's really important to realise that everyone else goes through the same set of experiences and emotions."

Visit http://womansguideto.com/ for more information on the book, its authors and how to buy it.