Jacqueline Wilson was born in Bath in 1945 but spent most of her childhood in Kingston-on-Thames where she still lives. She always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first “novel” when she was nine, filling countless Woolworth’s’ exercise books as she grew up. She started work at a publisher and then went on to work as a journalist for D.C. Thomson in Scotland where she helped found JACKIE magazine.

Jacqueline’s books include THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER, THE SUITCASE KID, THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR, CLIFFHANGER, DOUBLE ACT, BAD GIRLS, THE LOTTIE PROJECT, THE DARE GAME, GIRLS IN LOVE, GIRLS UNDER PRESSURE, GIRLS OUT LATE and GIRLS IN TEARS (a quartet for slightly older readers), VICKY ANGEL, THE ILLUSTRATED MUM, THE DARE GAME, DUSTBIN BABY, SECRETS, THE WORRY WEBSITE, LOLA ROSE, MIDNIGHT, BEST FRIENDS, THE DIAMOND GIRLS, CLEAN BREAK, LOVE LESSONS, CANDYFLOSS and KISS.

2002 saw the broadcast of Jacqueline’s own adaptation of DOUBLE ACT for Channel 4 Schools and a major 26 part BBC series based on THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER, which has become the highest rating CBBC drama and is about to start filming a fifth series. A stage adaptation of THE LOTTIE PROJECT was performed at the Polka Theatre, Wimbledon in 1999 and 2000; in 2003 a stage adaptation of DOUBLE ACT previewed at the Polka Theatre before touring nationally, and a national tour of a Tracy Beaker musical, TRACY BEAKER GETS REAL, is upcoming. BAD GIRLS also reached the stage in 2004, again previewing at the Polka before a national tour. In 2005, the Watershed production of MIDNIGHT premiered at the Haymarket Theatre in Basingstoke before beginning a nationwide tour. Radio adaptations of THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR, THE STORY OF TRACY BEAKER and its sequel THE DARE GAME have been broadcast on Radio 4. In 2003 a 13 part series based on the GIRLS IN LOVE books was broadcast on ITV followed in 2005 by series 2.

Jacqueline has been on countless shortlists and has won several awards, including the Young Telegraph/Fully Booked Award in 1995 for THE BED AND BREAKFAST STAR, The Smarties Prize, The Sheffield Children’s Book Award and the Children’s Book Award for DOUBLE ACT. In 1999 THE ILLUSTRATED MUM was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children’s Book Prize, won the Children’s Book of the Year and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and was Highly Commended for the Carnegie Medal. LIZZIE ZIPMOUTH won the Gold Smarties Prize and GIRLS IN TEARS was named Children’s Book of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards. In 2002, Jacqueline herself was awarded an OBE for services to literacy.

In 2004 it was announced by PLR that Jacqueline was the most borrowed author from public libraries in the UK, toppling Catherine Cookson from top position after 17 years. In 2008 she remains the most-borrowed children's author. Jacqueline was Children's Laureate for 2005-2007 and was made a Dame in the New Year's Honours List 2008.

Jacqueline has now sold more than 25 million books in the UK alone and has been translated into 30 languages.

Pearl is 10 and her older sister, Jodie, at 14, is beginning to run wild. In an attempt to stop the rot and make a new life for the family, their parents take new jobs at Melchester College, a posh boarding school miles from anywhere. Their mum is to be school cook and their dad the caretaker. They arrive at the beginning of the summer holidays and bookish Pearl is entranced by the splendid if crumbling Gothic mansion. Even Jodie, surprisingly, seems to relish their new surroundings, hitting it off with the eccentric headmaster and setting her cap at handsome gardener, Jed. Pearl, too, finds a new friend in the shape of gangly intellectual Harley, and soon they're badger-watching in the extensive grounds of the college.

But when term begins, Jodie's problems resurface as she finds herself ostracised by her classmates. Increasingly, she is at odds with her family and everyone else, retreating instead to the solitude of the out-of-bounds tower room. Pearl has always adored her sister, despite their deep differences in personality, and tries desperately to maintain their special relationship but tragedy looms as events begin to spiral out of control...