A MOTHER and son duo from York who started writing after the death of a family member have made it onto Amazon’s ‘hot book’ list.

Andrea Benson and her 10-year-old son, Finn, have published five children’s books between them - and their latest work has made it into the Amazon charts, which Andrea described as a “tremendous achievement".

Following the death of her brother Craig in the River Ouse in York in 2017, Andrea was inspired to achieve her goals - one of which was to begin writing books.

Andrea said: “After Craig’s funeral, I reflected on how short life was, that tomorrow isn’t promised - and that I myself had goals I wanted to achieve.

“Writing gave me the much needed respite during my period of grief. It has been my sanctuary.”

Andrea published her first children’s book in 2019 - which she dedicated to both her brother and Rory Johnson, who went missing in 2015 during a night out in York.

After enjoying reading his mum’s books, Andrea’s son Finn decided to start his own writing adventure - and wrote his first book on a lonely ‘Blobfish’ who struggled to make friends due to his unique appearance.

Andrea said: “Finn’s primary school teacher spoke to me regarding a story he had written in class. His teacher was so moved and inspired by the story she felt that she needed to share it with me.

“His writing journey is an inspiration to young writers all over the UK and has earned him his Blue Peter Badge which is very cool.”

After the success of his first book, on sale at Waterstones and Amazon, Finn decided to write a sequel to one of his mum’s books called ‘Halloween Terror’, which was published on September 21. The book ranked in 20th position on the Amazon Halloween hot new releases chart - ahead of an Enid Blyton book in the same genre.

“As a parent, this has highlighted to me how important it is to support your child’s passion and to help them develop it, no matter what it might be. I am so proud of Finn, publishing two books by the age of 10 is nothing short of amazing,” Andrea added.