A DYSTOPIAN, post-Brexit novel about a broken Britain, described by one critic as an “urban Lord of the Flies for our times”, has been brought out by a debut author from Petersfield.

Former Fleet Street journalist Jill Turner was inspired to write The Children of Albion – published by Little Bird, £8.99 and now available at One Tree Books in Lavant Street – by her experiences and knowledge of disadvantaged youngsters.

“I?wanted to highlight some of the toughest struggles that our children are dealing with, but include with it a message of hope,” she explained.

“Through my job as a journalist I saw how children were living and coping with very adult problems and want to look at some of the issues in a positive way.”

The Children of Albion tells the story of children living on the wasteland of a post-millennial sink estate where they are starved of food, love and affection, and run feral, surviving day by day by any means possible.

When a middle-class dreamer drop-out, and revolutionary teenager, Albion, makes camp in one of the derelict houses, an unlikely friendship is struck between him and Robbie, a boy born of the estate who desperately longs for things to be different.

With dreams of establishing a modern-day Camelot, and refuge for those young people let down by society, Albie and Robbie attempt to create a new and better world.

“As a child, I was fascinated by the stories of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, so I used it as a theme in the novel, although it is set in modern times,” added Jill, who is now based in Cornwall.

“I was certainly inspired by the writers I learnt about at school, such as Dickens, Keats and Tennyson, and I hope by referencing them in the novel, I?might encourage readers to look again at some of the classics.”

One critic wrote of her book:?“One of the first, much-needed post-Brexit novels, shining the light on the dark underbelly of broken Britain”.

Jill has worked as a writer and editor on the staff of most Fleet Street newspapers.

She is working on her next book already.