Short Story Rejoice – Morning Star Online
Introduction
SARAH SCHOFIELD’S first collection, Safely Gathered In, is a book about loss, grief, miscommunication, the emotional power of cultural detritus and characters at the end of their tether.
There’s a blend of traditional storytelling and bold experimentation with form.
Rejoice, an accessible and politically engaged story, draws these themes together and considers the legacy of Margaret Thatcher.
Initially, this seems an odd focus for a writer w…….
Introduction
SARAH SCHOFIELD’S first collection, Safely Gathered In, is a book about loss, grief, miscommunication, the emotional power of cultural detritus and characters at the end of their tether.
There’s a blend of traditional storytelling and bold experimentation with form.
Rejoice, an accessible and politically engaged story, draws these themes together and considers the legacy of Margaret Thatcher.
Initially, this seems an odd focus for a writer who wasn’t born when Thatcher was elected, so why does this proponent of nationalism, spending cuts and the unfettered free market resonate at the heart of this tale?
“I was born in the 1980s,” says Schofield, “so Thatcher was insistently present throughout my earliest years and memories. In some ways I am the girl in the story — fascinated by the woman — the mechanical speech, the stiff presence, the manicured hair and persona … I was raised a feminist yet here was an incredibly powerful woman, asserting her space, and instinctively, even as a child without understanding the politics at play, I felt a jarring gap.
“I think children are particularly sensitive to the gaps between what adults say and what they do. This held my eye, just as intoxicatingly as with the girl in the story.
“This story, particularly in the way it folds back on itself historically, was an opportunity to explore my memory of Thatcher. To view the current political climate through the lens of the past.
“I couldn’t write much during the early pandemic lockdowns. On top of the demands of a young family, I felt paralysed by the situation.
“Just one aspect of many, the PPE crisis gave me a deep trembling despair at the failings of our government in the treatment of those we needed to protect.
“And that gap yawned open between the things said and the things done. The defensiveness, the emphatic attempt to steer the narrative of history. More and more I felt this was a folding back, an overlapping of political climates and personas.
“The untruths and caricatures, the mishandling and questionable regard for life and livelihood, the manipulation with scripted soundbites and national clapping. The divisive language. Thatcher’s ‘rejoice’ rang like tinnitus. Just rejoice. Those words. It’s the same tired narrative, undermining critique, culpability or scrutiny.”
Safely Gathered In by Sarah Schofield was published by Comma Press in November, it is available from: commapress.co.uk/books/safely-gathered-in
Rejoice
by Sarah Schofield
IT IS almost dark when I get to Dad’s. Through the window I see him and April sitting round the table in the lounge. They are colouring in. She laughs, showing off the gap …….
