A bestselling author, who was born in Winchester, is publishing a new novel influenced by her Romany upbringing.

Diamond, by Jessie Keane, will be released on February 3 and is a historical crime fiction novel.

One of the most successful Romany writers in the UK today, Jessie was born in Winchester in a traditional barrel-topped caravan parked on her parent’s drive upon her grandmother’s insistence that she be born Romany.

From a family of bare-knuckle fighters – the Peaky Blinders references are strong – much of Jessie’s focus on strong women and resilience in traditionally male-dominated environments in her books comes from her Romany heritage.

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Jessie is proud of her heritage. She said: “Gypsies are strong, resilient and tough as old boots. It's a honour to be one of them.

The novel is set in the early 20th century where a a desperate young girl changes her name and flees the confines of her brutal, dominating gangland family in London.

Now calling herself ‘Diamond Dupree’, she goes to Paris to become an artist’s model but the world there is brutal and cutthroat and she soon falls on hard times. When she manages to escape at the end of the First World War, she leaves behind a mystery - and a dead man.

Back home in London, she reluctantly re-joins the Soho family ‘firm’ she’d once been glad to leave behind. Having grown tougher during her time in Paris, she soon becomes a force to be reckoned with; a feared and respected gangland queen.

But then she meets Richard Beaumont, the youngest son of a wealthy aristocratic family, and the prospect of a different life unfolds.

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Kimberley Barber