A prize-winning author has spoken for the first time about discovering that his long-lost brother grew up only a few miles from his home.

Bricklayer Dave Sharp, 64, of Wallingford, was given away by his mother at a railway station when he was one month old after she had a wartime affair.

He told the Oxford Mail he managed to trace his family and discovered his long-lost brother was Booker Prize-winning author Ian McEwan.

Now Mr McEwan has broken his silence and spoken of his joy at learning he has a brother - but disappointment that his parents did not confide in him.

He said: "My first feeling was excitement - I've got a brother.

"But also shock and then within a few days, sadness."

Mr Sharp found out he was adopted when he was 14 but only began searching for his real family when he was 60.

When they finally met, Mr Sharp was unaware his brother was a famous author until they kept being interrupted by autograph hunters.

His mother gave Mr Sharp away during the war after having an affair.

Her husband was then killed in action and she resumed the affair.

The couple later married and had Mr McEwan.

He said he was shocked his parents never told him about his brother.

He said: "We talked a great deal and often about the past.

"They had endless opportunities to tell me.

"I can only think the shame was too great.

"One has to think back to the shame that was attached to a soldier abroad on active service in the war and a baby born illegitimately to another man.

"I can understand there would have been hell to pay.

"But it's hard to understand from my point of view the secrecy that followed for the rest of their lives."

Their father was dead at the time of their reunion and their mother Rosa suffers from dementia.

Mr McEwan added: "At that momentous moment when he might meet one of his parents, there she was, alive but not there.

"But he dealt with it well. He was very mature and decent about it."

Mr McEwan said he regularly met his brother and they were close, but because they did not grow up together something might be missing.

He said: "Everything genetic needs signalling, so it's all about being raised together. Many people loathe their siblings but still seem to be connected because of their shared past.

"This falls outside that. I feel close to David because I know intellectually he is my brother, but it's not quite the same as if we had a childhood together."

For many years Mr Sharp lived in Wallingford with his wife and daughter, while his author brother lived a few miles away in Park Town, North Oxford.

He is now hoping to follow in his brother's footsteps and is writing a book called Complete Surrender about meeting his brother, to celebrate being reunited with his biological family.