Brentwood School student – fencer to children's author

Brentwood School student and England Fencer Madeleine Gale has now added published children’s author to her growing list of accomplishments.

Madeleine’s story Leave with Me, a children’s story about leaving the safety of home and discovering the great world outside, was written five years ago when she was just nine years old.

An international fencer, Madeleine has used her experiences of travelling and being separated from her family to inspire her story of growing up, flying the nest and experiencing the world, even when it’s hard.

Leave with Me, which was originally a school essay, was finally published by Troubador Publishing in June. It is a timeless but simple tale for young children set in the warmth and innocence of the English countryside.

Meet a Leaf named Lila, her family of leaves, and her worldly-wise friend Swithin the Swift, who encourages Lila to turn her fear of the unknown into confidence and excitement about the future.

In their first collaboration, Jack Terry’s tender adaptation of Madeleine’s gentle parable about growing up, bathes in a modern tableau of beautifully illustrated nature scenes, hand-drawn by emerging art talent James Weston Lewis.

Leave with Me, which seeks to reunite readers with the beauty, mystery and possibility of the great English rural tradition and wildlife, carries a much deeper message and can be enjoyed by parents and children alike.