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belief in the story

Margaret Swift first conceived the story while taking a class of ten-year-old girls for Creative English at Wawne Junior High School, Kingston-upon-Hull in the late 1960s (yes, the 1960s). This in itself was a remarkable experience and established Margaret's ongoing belief in the strength of the story, a belief that was to see her through three volumes and 200,000 words, later entitled Amaranth.

spellbound

The lesson took place first thing in the morning after assembly and was due to continue for an hour or so until break at ten thirty. Margaret suggested the girls write a story about a magic object, say an umbrella or a pen, whatever they liked. To get everyone in the mood she started making up a story about a magic flower. As she got more and more into this the class became spellbound. A long time went by. The bell went for break but everyone ignored it. The bell went for the end of break but everyone ignored that too. The story was so exciting. Everyone wanted to know what would happen. Another class arrived outside for the next lesson and began knocking on the door but Margaret and the girls took no notice of them. At length the deputy head arrived to find out what on earth was going on. She found a teacher intent on speaking to a class that refused to be distracted. The story was however almost finished. Margaret completed it and the spell broke. The girls grabbed their bags and ran out to the bus that was waiting to take them swimming.

prose poetry

The story was not forgotten. As years went by, it grew in Margaret's mind. She began putting it on paper in the early 1970s, beginning with the ‘Prologue’ which is a passage of what might be called prose poetry about the fate of Flora, the mother of the heroine Floretta, many years before the story actually starts.

‘With a parting word and a glance at her slumbering babe she left the warmth of the tightly shuttered cottage, shunned its cosy hearth for the bleakness of a sunless forest twilight.’

This melancholy piece is immediately countered in Chapter 1 with a vibrant introduction to the peerless girl herself, which begins:

‘Upon a soft mossy bank in a secluded grove a young girl was sleeping, intoxicated by the drowsy warmth of a strong summer sun.’

(The image, incidentally, taken by the artist in her work for the cover).

the World of Man

Each of these two passages is something of a one-off. Floretta has spent her childhood deep in the forest, but she is about to set off for the World of Man. Interaction with human beings, good and evil, can no longer be avoided: Floretta will attract attention wherever she goes. Events will be fantastical. In this other-worldly setting, in the pre-industrial kingdom of Torquella, Nature and its minion the forest are not in retreat. The forest is able to take action, not always vainly, to help those it loves and Nature can perform miracles, if it so wishes, and bestow miraculous powers - powers which observers, rightly or wrongly, will attribute to Floretta. One thing is certain: her beauty on its own is miraculous so that all who see her realise that something exceptional is afoot.

who is Floretta?

We know of no living being comparable with Floretta (though there is a certain likeness with the cover artist who has spent many hours portraying her and who has always understood the book well). The Secret of Eternal Youth is essentially a work of the imagination.

As you read, many distinct voices will be conjured up:

The ‘low unhurried voice of the forest’:

‘Remember, the forest witnessed the birth of man. And if ever man is no more, be sure that the forest will still be here. Man may destroy himself, he may destroy the forest, but then with time there would come more forest.
We do not wish man to destroy himself, we wish him well, but wishing has no substance. We have always watched man deceiving himself and have grieved for him. But our grief has no power.’

The ‘soft persuasive words’ of the scoundrel Elavisado:

“I can arrange, if you wish, for word to circulate that the rumours spreading about you are largely fictitious, invented by ill-wishers to the Crown, exaggerated by importunate fools, dreamed by the fanciful. I can arrange all this, weaving a web of new reality, carefully extinguishing all breath of the old one, carefully silencing all who would breathe to the contrary. I can arrange. in short, I can arrange. anything. Any means of protecting your privacy, of securing your safety, which you would find personally satisfying, I can arrange it.”

The ‘reliable, steady’ voice of the butler Ashvy Parva with its ‘apparent lack of emotion’:

“I allow myself no qualms, for, to possess qualms, in that direction lie madness and destitution. It is not for me to doubt decisions but to implement them; my life and livelihood depend on this. I have long since denied myself the luxury of doubt. If I paused to doubt the rectitude of every instruction it would lead ultimately to the dereliction of my duties and my career would be forfeited.”

The sinister words of the high and mighty Julien:

“How amusing, that an upstart such as yourself should feel above criticism whilst criticising a King upon his divine throne. But it is no wonder that you feel no fear in my presence, I realise now, no wonder that you dare to criticise and provoke me: you, who see yourself as immortal, as above death or damnation, and quite justifiably, I suppose. But I, in my earthly power, will curtail your confident expectations. I will crush you, quarter you, dissect you, destroy every ounce of your physical entity, and reduce you once more to the petty status of mortality.”

Floretta herself says:

“He destroys beauty because he does not understand it.”

proto-ecological

When she first completed this work Margaret Swift found that it was widely misunderstood, though it did have strong aficionados. At that time, relatively few people seemed able to get their heads around the quite simple analyses of man's relationship with Nature. In the 70s and the 80s people were interested in a perceived over-population of the United Kingdom and in looming energy shortages, but there was little mention of ecology. It had not entered the public consciousness. In that sense The Secret of Eternal Youth can be seen as proto-ecological and, therefore, light years ahead of its time.

the cover

The cover design is based on a beautiful painting by the Bristol artist Lesley Lawrence, who read the book when it was first written and has always understood it.

Lesley says, “I have always been an artistic person since early childhood. My memory of myself at the age of five is of paintbrush in hand, oil paint preferred, with a mind to create great masterpieces… Whatever their shortcomings, those early ‘art works’ certainly were advanced for a small girl, showing an awareness of perspective, colour co-ordination and composition…

“My affection for arts and crafts has continued to grow and evolve throughout my life, watercolour paint and glass paint being my preferred mediums these days. Although my talent is entirely self-taught, I have been fortunate in having works commissioned: from painting game birds to flamenco dancers, bees to Christmas scenes, advertising posters to show and events programmes. My work exhibited at Southbank Bristol Arts was very well received…

“My ideas are developed from nature, from the garden, parks, the beach, from everyday things. Lying awake at night, I try to envision on paper or glass the image that is imprinted on my mind's eye. My designs, technique and style are continually growing and transforming, developing and changing, as do all living things. I was truly delighted when Margaret Swift approached me to illustrate the cover for ‘The Secret of Eternal Youth’…”

launching ‘the secret’

‘The Secret’ is out. It was launched at Woodthorpe Library, Nottingham on 13^th October 2007 along with ‘The German Trip’. We could not go to the fictitious land of Torquella where the fantasy trilogy ‘Amaranth’ is set, except in our imaginations. It was necessary to establish ‘The Secret’ in a worldly place, and where better than Nottingham?

Similarly, we plan to launch the second volume of the trilogy ‘A Spell for Irresistible Charm’ in tandem with another of Margaret Swift's novels for young people: ‘The Free Show’, set in Darlington. This will be in 2008 and should be followed in 2009 by a third double launch in Somerset. The third volume of the trilogy ‘The Crown of Untold Wisdom’ will begin life with Margaret's young persons novel ‘Tom Gibbons’ as its non-identical twin.

book swap

At the launch in Woodthorpe, many callers had been on a trip to Germany with Margaret and Andrew Swift and were looking for ‘The German Trip’. No one had been to Torquella. Yet some visitors were searching primarily for ‘The Secret’. Among these was star guest Nottingham authoress Joan Wallace, who felt moved to an impromptu contribution after the speeches by Robert Swift and Chris Pratt. She could remember Robert as a little boy — and Margaret beavering away on ‘The Secret’ as a young mother. As she herself put it, ‘I was in on this book at the beginning’. She had brought Margaret a copy of her fourth novel ‘Ragtime Joe’ which completed Margaret's set. Margaret was delighted to receive it and the two old friends decided on a swap.

longest work

The Amaranth trilogy with its three volumes is Margaret Swift's longest work, rivalling the marathon novel for young people ‘Lies and Consequences’ with its 150,000 words.
Numerous novels are mentioned only briefly here. If you would like to know more about them keep watching this website. Or email your query to Margaret Swift.