OXFORD writer Siobhan Dowd, who died two years ago, is in line for one of Britain’s most prestigious book awards.

Her novel Solace of the Road is on this year’s shortlist for the Costa Book Awards, which was announced this week.

Mrs Dowd, who died of cancer aged 47, is one of four contenders in the award’s children’s category.

Mrs Dowd’s sister Denise Dowd said family and friends were thrilled at the news.

She said: “We love this terrific book which features feisty Holly and her roller-coaster of adventures.

“It’s a real page-turner and demonstrates Siobhan’s wonderful ability to tell a story that is a sheer joy to read.”

Solace of the Road is about a teenager who escapes her foster parents and social workers to find her real “mam”.

The Costa judges said: “We were captivated by this beautifully-written, poignant and ultimately heart-warming story.”

Solace of the Road was Mrs Dowd’s fourth novel for Oxford publisher David Fickling Books. Her previous books all won awards.

Royalties go to the Siobhan Dowd Trust, a charity set up to support reading for disadvantaged young people.

The book is competing against Troubadour, by West Oxfordshire children’s writer Mary Hoffman, and The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness, a former lecturer at Rewley House, Oxford University.

Also in the running in other categories is Oxford author Ali Shaw, for The Girl with Glass Feet and William Fiennes for The Music Room, which is about growing up at Broughton Castle, near Banbury, with his brother.

Ruth Padel, the poet who became embroiled in the controversy over the Professor of Poetry post at Oxford University earlier this year, was selected for the poetry shortlist, for Darwin: A Life in Poems.

She was inspired listening to her elderly grandmother’s stories while she was an Oxford classics graduate.

Mrs Dowd died at Sobell House hospice, at the Churchill Hospital in Headington, in August.

She lived with her husband Geoff in West Oxford. The Oxford University graduate had a reputation as one of the most promising children’s writers of her generation.