A FIRST World War historian from Chepstow was celebrating lastweekend after becoming one of the world's few self-published authors to top the Amazon bestseller charts.

Susan Burnett was rejected by a string of mainstream publishers who believed that her book, "On That Day I Left My Boyhood Behind", lacked "commercial appeal".

She based the book on the memoirs of her late grandfather, Norman Woodcock, who fought for King and country in the First World War.

It tells the true story of Norman's bloody battles on the frontlines at Gallipoli, in the Middle East and on the Somme.

Undeterred by the feedback from mainstream publishers, Susan decided to self-publish – and has since won bestseller status and critical acclaim.

The book topped the Amazon book chart of World War One biographies both as a paperback and on Kindle.

It has also been serialised in a national newspaper to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

Susan said: "I'm absolutely delighted with the success I've had and with all the positive feedback people have given.

"When I began pulling together my grandfather's memoirs and researching the history, I found it fascinating and was thoroughly absorbed.

"I'm delighted so many other people have been able to enjoy and learn from my grandfather's personal story and to be able to share his lasting legacy."

Norman was forced to leave the family bakery in Leeds to fight for his country in 1914 at the age of 17. Earlier that year he had joined the Territorial Army as a Royal Engineer Signaller and was mobilised on the outbreak of war.

When he died in 1987 at the age of 90, he left three files to Susan which contained the moving story of what happened to him, his comrades and to his beloved horse, Timbuc.

Susan, a researcher and consultant in patient safety for Imperial College, London, pulled together her grandfather's memoirs and her own historical findings to complete the book.

It includes never-before-revealed insights into the 1915 Gallipoli Landings, a campaign that resulted in the loss of 56,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers.

Norman was in charge of communication wires during the doomed campaign, and described the eight months spent fighting well trained Turkish troops in Gallipoli as a "living hell".

On That Day I Left My Boyhood Behind also includes his memories of serving Lawrence of Arabia in the Middle East and on the Somme at the end of World War One.

Historians widely consider the Gallipoli Campaign as one of the biggest battlefield blunders in recent military history, and have described Susan's book as of "great historical importance".