Sports broadcaster Clare Balding has dedicated her new novel to the widow of former Wales captain and respected commentator Eddie Butler.

Butler, who played for Wales 16 times between 1980 and 1984, and captained the side on six occasions, died in September 2022, aged 65, while on a charity trek in Peru.

Balding's debut adult novel is set in the Monmouthshire countryside and tells the tale of Alex, whose life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly inherits a decrepit farm.

"It's such a lovely place to represent, and it's so easy to write about people who are, by their nature, kind and generous," she said.

As well as his Wales caps, Eddie Butler was called up to the British and Irish Lions squad that toured New Zealand.

After retirement, he became a respected rugby broadcaster, and he and his wife, Sue, became friends with Balding.

The dedication in the novel reads: For Sue and in memory of Ed.

"I had the first copy of it in my hands and I took it and I gave it to [Sue], and I said 'you might want to look at the beginning and you might want to read the acknowledgements as well. And, and we cried, a lot," Balding told BBC Radio Wales.