A new young adult novel rooted in England’s past — but shaped by more recent tensions — will be launched in Swindon next month.
Author Jill Sharp will unveil The Purple Feather at the Swindon Festival of Literature, with a joint appearance alongside fellow writer Eleanor Barker White at Swindon Arts Centre on 5 May.
While the story takes readers back to the 17th century and the turmoil of the English Civil War, its origins lie in something more contemporary.
Sharp says the idea emerged during a period of deep political division in the UK, when public debate around EU membership exposed sharp fractures in society.
“It felt, at times, as though the country was pulling itself apart,” she said. “That sense of division made me think about earlier periods in history when conflict wasn’t inevitable — but became so.”
The novel follows a young farmer from the Civil War era who finds himself unexpectedly transported into modern-day England, landing in the garden shed of a teenager. What unfolds is part time-slip adventure, part reflection on family, conflict and the choices that shape history.
Published by Stairwell Books, the book marks a shift into fiction for Sharp, who is already known for her poetry. Her work has twice been recognised in the Keats-Shelley Prize.
Publisher Rose Drew said the move felt like a natural progression. “We already knew Jill as a remarkable poet,” she said. “Discovering her voice as a novelist has been equally exciting.”
Festival audiences will have the chance to hear more about the book and its themes at the lunchtime event, which begins at 12.30pm.
For readers, The Purple Feather offers a familiar device — time travel — but uses it to ask a less familiar question: not just what happened in history, but how easily things might have turned out differently.
