SALISBURY author Julia Edwards has penned the fifth book in her time-travel series for children which tackles Britain’s slave trading past.

Slaves for Isabella is being released on November 10 - the day the legacy of slave trader Edward Colston is controversially celebrated in Bristol. It is set in Bristol in the 18th century, and explores the city’s part in the slave trade.

“The Scar Gatherer series moves through time, and I knew I had to cover the Slave Trade because it’s such a major episode in British history,” said Julia. “All the same, I had no idea until I started researching Slaves for the Isabella how deeply its legacy is embedded in modern life.”

Slaves for the Isabella is the fifth book in The Scar Gatherer Series, a sequence of time-travel adventures for 8 to 12 year olds, spanning British history from Roman times through to the Second World War.

Julia said: “What I most want children to take away from this is to remember that we don’t need to fear people or things we don’t understand or which are unfamiliar - in fact, life is more interesting for the fact that we are not all outwardly the same. I would like children to see and remember that people who appear different to us want the same things from their lives: safety, love, freedom, and we all have an equal right to achieve those things.”

Julia is about to start work on the sixth book in the series, which will be set in Victorian times.

She said: “I hope very much to find a school in or around Salisbury who would like to work with me as their Patron of Reading over the next year, so that I have a group of children to follow and give me feedback on the next book from the initial research through to the published book, as I did with Winterbourne Earls Primary for the fourth book, The Demon in the Embers, and with Wilton and Barford Primary with Slaves for the Isabella.”

The books are available from Waterstones, Amazon, other online and high street booksellers, and from scargatherer.co.uk.