Starling

Sarah Jane Butler grew up on the edge of Southborough Common in Kent. She studied languages at university and spent time living in France and Spain. Her short stories (some published under the name SJ Butler) have appeared in literary journals and anthologies, and her story The Swimmer was included in Best British Short Stories 2011. She has twice won the 26 Project Writer's Award, most recently in 2021 for her poem Flow, and has performed her work in pubs, a festival tent and a disused light vessel. Starling is her debut novel. As well as writing fiction, she is a copywriter and communications consultant. She lives in Sussex with her husband, and has two children.

'A beautifully written debut. Sarah Jane Butler explores the challenges of treading lightly in this modern world, the power of community and the process of recovering from a difficult mothering' –Katherine May, author of Wintering'A beautiful tale of wandering and searching, full of gorgeous nature writing that illuminates our complex and varied relationships with the natural world. Starling reminds us that there are many ways to be free and wild, and we must find our own' –Zoe Gilbert, author of Mischief Acts'Starling is both a hymn to the English landscape and an exploration of what it takes to live together and apart. Sarah Jane Butler writes with a visceral lyricism; she doesn't so much observe the natural world as plunge us into its ditches, woods and rivers. A profound, gripping and deeply humane story about the choices we make in relation to the land and each other' –Judith Heneghan, author of Snegurochka'Starling is a love letter to the natural world, a celebration of the threads that bind us to the land and to each other' -Peggy Riley, author of Amity & Sorrow'Sarah Jane Butler is an author to watch' –Times of Tunbridge Wells'Starling is so immersed in nature you can literally smell it jumping off the pages' –BBC Radio