Andy Evans has spent 20 years tracing the past of his secretive grandfather, Maksim Culumovic, who was displaced from Bosnia during bitter civil conflicts following the Second World War and moved to this country in 1946.

His published book, In Search of the Displaced Persons – written with a distant relative he found during research – is an account of Maksim's life mixed with family memories.

Andy, of Leatham Crescent, Purston, said: "My grandfather was displaced from his home country and could never return because he'd been exiled.

"For the rest of his life he never told anyone anything about it, except that everyone he knew had been murdered.

"After he died in 1988 my parents did finally get some information, but they were arrested and thrown out of Bosnia when they visited his home town.

"It has taken me 20 years to find out the truth. I have hired private investigators and tried everything."

Despite painstaking research – and a secret suitcase full of Maksim's photographs and private documents opened only after his death – Andy struggled to uncover his history until he came across a website with photographs of the village he had lived in.

He then discovered Maksim had changed his original name and had a brother who had family in America.

After tracing his relatives, Andy invited second cousin Vesna Kovac to help him write the book.

Former miner Andy, 43, added: "I have visited Bosnia and even now nobody will talk about what happened.

"A lot of displaced people came to this area as there was a hostel at Hightown. They were put to work in coal mines and there was a massive community here at one time.

"My family thinks the book is fantastic and I think my grandfather would have liked it too.

"A few years before he died he wanted to write a book about his life and other displaced persons and asked me to type it for him, but sadly I was caught up in the miners' strike.

"I am glad that I finally recorded the years that had been lost."

In Search Of The Displaced Persons is published by Authorhouse and available to online at www.author house.com.