A LAVERSTOCK author is delving into the history of Victorian England in her latest book in the time travelling series.

Julia Edwards has released the latest instalment in her Scar Gatherer series, The Shimmer on the Glass.

She says: “I’m delighted to see the sixth Scar Gatherer book in print. When I first had the idea for the series five years ago, I saw all seven books in my head, stretching out ahead of me. To be able now to share six out of those seven books with my readers is very exciting. I’ve been especially pleased to discover that some of the children who began with the first book in 2014 are still keen for the next instalment.”

The book is set in a Cornish fishing village and looks at the what life was like for those in rural areas.

“I always knew I had to include Victorian England in the series - like Tudor times, it’s one of the really formative eras in British history, and it’s a period I thought I knew well,” says Julia.

“What I discovered as I researched the book, however, was how primitive life in rural areas continued to be, despite all the innovations that began to appear in towns and cities.”

She says: "I’ve often looked at the slightly blurred, unsmiling faces of people in early photographs, and wondered what they were thinking as they gazed into the lens of the camera.

"As I researched which inventions were widespread by the 1860s, when The Shimmer on the Glass is set, I became fascinated by the photographic process itself. In some respects it was utterly different from how we experience photography today - setting up and taking pictures took a long time, and the development of the images was extraordinarily complex, including habitual use of cyanide.

"Yet the fashion for giving out pictures of yourself struck me as very modern, like posting selfies on the internet."

Julia is already working on the next instalment in The Scar Gatherer series.

As she explains: “I’ve just started work on the seventh and final book in the series, which will be set during the Blitz in World War Two. Unusually for me, I’ve started writing at the end of the book, rather than the beginning, because I know what I want to happen, and I need to get it into an order that works.”

She is sharing her experience of writing this book with pupils at Bemerton St John, and Broad Chalke primary schools. Julia has been working with the schools as their patron of reading and writing.