AN autobiographical account of a wartime romance which began in Malvern has just been published.

Tony Cooper, who now lives in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, has written Somehow They Knew, which recalls how a chance meeting with a beautiful young girl changed his life forever.

Tony was then a young army officer, he had joined the Royal Artillery in 1939 on the outbreak of war and had gone on to serve in North Africa and Italy.

By August 1942, a young lady from Swanage on the south coast found herself in Malvern. Tina had moved with the Telecommunications Research Establishment, which had hastily abandoned its English Channel-side base as a precaution against German attack.

The book tells how Tony and Tina met in Malvern, and the subsequent development of their affair, set against a portrait of Britain at war.

They married in 1945. He remained in the army after the war and served in Malaya and Hong Kong, retiring in 1968 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel before working in industry for 20 years.

After retiring to France, he wrote We Who Know, based on his father's World War One experiences, published in 1994.

Somehow They Knew has been printed in Canada and is at present being advertised on the Internet. However, Mr Cooper is on the lookout for an outlet in Malvern itself where the book can be sold.

He can be contacted at 1 rue de Bernet, 62200 Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.