Sally Gardner Podcast
Sally Gardner’s latest book – The Bridestone – is set in the time of the French Revolution – a time when 150,000 migrants fled France’s tyranny for the ‘safer’ shores of Britain.
But history provides us with a perspective on the present. At a time of mass immigration [again from France] Sally asks – did we learn nothing?
As she says “We have the same choice today. Fear is always the louder voice — in pamphlets then, in headlines now. But history reminds us that the quieter voice of compassion has the longer echo. The compassion of the 1790s is still felt, in the schools, churches and traditions refugees built.
Our response to those seeking refuge in 2025 will be remembered just as surely. The mirror of history is clear: what we choose in the moment of crisis will outlast us. The only question is whether we want the echo of fear — or of compassion.”
