A commuter who wrote her first novel on a train has won a literary award.

Brigid Coady wrote romantic ‘No One Wants to Be Miss Havisham’ on her iPad while travelling on the hour-long 6.37am service from London Victoria to Maidstone East.

The 43-year-old's story has now been published as an e-book by HarperImpulse, a section of HarperCollins, and has won the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers.

A hardback edition of the 80,000 word tale, which is inspired by Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol', is due to be released in August.

The project manager, who lives in Pimlico, central London, came up with the idea for the book in 2009 and said: “I have always wanted to write a novel and the train seemed like the ideal place to sit down, collect my thoughts and write my first book.”

The story follows Edie Dickens, a divorce lawyer who doesn’t believe in love.

Haunted by the ghosts of weddings past, present and future, she must change her ways before her best friend’s wedding, or end up being damned to an eternity watching others’ happiness.

Ms Coady, who is now working on her second novel on the same train, said: “We all say ‘I would do X if only I had the time’ but it’s about finding those little pockets of time that can be used to really follow our dreams. There’s no way I could have finished my book without using that time on my commute sitting at my table and writing.”

Following last month's publication she wrote to train provider Southeastern joking that she was its resident writer, at which point the company decided to make it official.

Barbara Thomas, passenger services director said: “We want to congratulate Brigid on the publication of her first book and winning an award.

“It’s great to hear stories of how our passengers spend their time on their commute and it is clear that Brigid used her commute very constructively.

“When Brigid contacted us about her achievement, we were happy to announce her as writer in residence on this service – the 6.37am train from London Victoria to Maidstone East.”