Author and mum-of-three K.T. Medina discussed her debut novel White Crocodile and her unconventional journey to becoming an author on the final day of the Wimbledon BookFest.

Former Wimbledon High School pupil Medina transported the audience to the ‘dangerously beautiful’ Cambodian town where her debut thriller novel is set.

Medina, who lives in Wimbledon, explained that her time spent working alongside mine-clearers and later for military publishing company Jane’s Information Group led her to start writing the thriller-come-mystery novel.

She had no writing experience, and signed up to a creative writing course where she wrote the first draft and later got an agent who sent her manuscript to publishers.

In her on-stage interview with Joanna Gray the ex-troop commander in the Royal Engineers discussed her time spent in Battambang, in Cambodia working for a landmine clearing charity which inspired her to write the book.

She said: "It’s a stunning area. The fields are emerald green, the sky is incredible blue, the earth is red.

"It’s extraordinarily beautiful. And the people are so friendly and very warm. That’s what makes the circumstances all the more tragic."

The circumstances that Medina referred to both on-stage and in White Crocodile are the way landmines cruelly govern the lives of the Battambang population.

She explained: "Cambodia is made poor by landmines as many people live off the land.

"What this does is leave the country open to layers of exploitation. I wanted to use the power of fiction to demonstrate these layers; the book is not just about mine clearing."

Medina depicts it as an area rife with folklore, mystery and danger.

However, landmines aren’t the only danger, she explained. Local people believe the legend of the White Crocodile - something that seems increasingly plausible as young mothers are abducted and murdered across the town.

She added rather modestly: "I had this idea and I wanted to write a novel but I’d never written anything before."

Since its publication by Faber & Faber this year, White Crocodile has received glowing praise from publications across the country.

The author, real name Katie Medina, has finished writing her second novel, which will be part of a series.

K.T Medina’s debut novel White Crocodile is out now.