Eleanor's Progress

Eleanor's Progress is a fantasy novel set in the future, against a backdrop of World revolution. This New Revolution has been caused by the expiry and the inability to extract any further fossil fuels from the modern world which has led to a complete overthrow of accepted world order and a regression into a mix of Medieval and Victorian times. 
Imagine a world where no technology exists. The knowledge of what has been lost has remained. Government has broken down, power has reverted to a feudal system with kings and high kings governing.  
We first meet Eleanor as a young ingenue girl of 17, who through various trials and tribulations, initially over which she has no control, develops into a strong resilient woman determined to fight perceived injustice.

The first 6 lines of Eleanor’s progress was started when I was in the lower sixth at school after a year spent of intensive daydreaming, which didn’t help my O level results! It remained at six lines for that entire year, until A levels were finished, when I started to add more pages, during the long summer break of 1984.




My late mother was quite farsighted where the throwaway use of plastics was concerned, when we humans didn’t know what damage we were causing to the planet. Her viewpoint set me thinking, what if all the technology that we have today failed, what core skills do any of us hold? What form would government take? It wouldn’t be long I thought before some form of feudal system emerged. Interestingly, I later found out this is the premise on which the Royal Observer Corp worked from, during the time of the Cold War. A few films later, which fired my imagination, coupled to Victorian engineering and Eleanor’s world began to emerge.




Gradually more and more material was added, during long college vacations written out long hand whilst at the same time studying for my professional exams. I realised that I wanted a flawed heroine, who makes mistakes and becomes more and more mature as the story progresses. I also wanted a strong woman, who could survive what was thrown at her and who could overcome her experiences. Eleanor’s name changed a few times as well, she started off as a Sarah, but it didn’t seem quite right.




Writing became more and more crammed into whenever I could grab five minutes or so, as I qualified as a chartered surveyor and married. The now 2/3rds finished manuscript stayed that way for a long while until 2003 when I sat down and reread all that I had written so far. I didn’t think it was a bad tale but it was unfinished, so I resolved to complete it. I had always known where I wanted the story to end, and it took about a further six months writing every night, during which time the end scenes were revamped.




As my professional work can get terribly serious I find I write as a stress relief, and when not trying to find five minutes developing Eleanor’s latest adventures, Elizabeth Kirkwood can be found living in Buckinghamshire with her husband, daughter, and Tommy the cat.