Jacqueline Wilson calls Picture Imperfect ‘the easiest and hardest book I’ve ever written’

Getty ImagesWilson says her 1999 novel, The Illustrated Mum, impressed her newest bookJacqueline Wilson has been writing for greater than 5 a long time and has printed a whole lot of books. She describes her new novel Image Imperfect – her grownup sequel to the The Illustrated Mum – as “the best and the toughest factor” she’s ever written.Printed in 1999, The Illustrated Mum tells the story of two sisters – Dolphin and Star – who battle to deal with their unstable and closely tattooed mom Marigold, whose bipolar dysfunction threatens to drag their household aside. The sequel focuses on Dolphin, 33, nonetheless taking care of her mum and feeling dejected with life residing in a bedsit and dealing at a tattoo parlour. “It was straightforward as a result of I beloved that e book,” Wilson tells me over a cup of espresso in a room on the Penguin Random Home workplace, piled excessive together with her books.”However it was onerous as a result of individuals carry their very own concepts of what might need occurred to these characters. “Some wished Marigold to have recovered, or Dolphin to have a beautiful profession, or Star to be the proper large sister however actual life would not all the time work that approach and I’ve all the time wished my books to be true to life.”Fact, even when uncomfortable, has all the time been Wilson’s trademark. From Tracy Beaker to Dustbin Child to The Illustrated Mum, she has written about messy households, psychological sickness, poverty and the resilience of youngsters navigating all of it.Jacqueline WilsonThe Illustrated Mum is Wilson’s second-highest-selling youngsters’s novel in paperback within the UK, topped solely by Tracy BeakerThe much-loved creator, who was made a dame in 2008, admits she has lengthy felt a specific affection for The Illustrated Mum and it “is one in all my favorite books”.”It is upsetting in some methods, however I had so many letters from youngsters saying, ‘that is identical to my mum or my dad’,” she says.”Not too long ago at a live performance, a lady hugged me and stated ‘thanks for serving to me cope with my mum’ and it virtually made me cry. To assume a e book may matter like that every one these years later, that is why I wished to revisit them.”The three girls’s lives have unfolded in methods each anticipated and painfully plausible – Marigold remains to be not managing to take her medicine or settle into stability. Star has certified as a health care provider and lives in Edinburgh, indifferent from Marigold’s psychological well being issues.After which there may be Dolphin, who Wilson sympathises with most as “she’s all the time the go-to particular person, the one holding issues collectively when Marigold will get into weird scrapes”.”She’s caring however resentful, scuffling with relationships and never fulfilled,” she explains. “On this e book, I wished to present her decisions in love and in work so she may work out what she actually desires.”Too Stark for Kids?When The Illustrated Mum was first printed, Wilson was warned {that a} explicit scene – the place Marigold covers herself in poisonous white paint to cover her tattoos – is likely to be “too stark” for youngsters.”I used to be advised it was scary, perhaps an excessive amount of,” Wilson remembers. “However I believed, no, that second was what would push Dolphin to lastly get assist. It needed to be there and by chance, I obtained my approach.”Wilson insists she has no regrets in regards to the harder themes in her books, regardless of occasional criticism that she was going too far. What makes her chuckle, although, is remembering a criticism from a livid mum who accused her of ruining her daughter’s childhood as a result of one in all her books implied that 11-year-olds not consider in Father Christmas. “You’ll be able to’t please everybody,” Wilson chuckles.But, for all her boundary-pushing, she is evident about the place she attracts the road. She acknowledges younger individuals now are uncovered to excess of readers had been within the Nineteen Nineties or 2000s, with conversations about misogyny, on-line abuse and even incel tradition filtering down into lecture rooms.However she says these darker realities belong in her grownup fiction quite than her youngsters’s books.”If I had been to place one thing as troubling as the entire incel factor right into a youngsters’s e book, it will solely ever be implied,” she explains. “With grownup books, you possibly can kind of write what you need. With youngsters, it’s a must to steadiness being trustworthy with out overwhelming them.”Getty ImagesWilson was made a Dame Grand Cross (the feminine equal of a knighthood) in 2025Wilson’s dedication to honesty – generally surprising, however by no means gratuitous – stays intact in Image Imperfect.”It is not a self-help e book,” she says. “I am not saying if you happen to’re Dolphin, that is what you need to do, however I wished to indicate the fact of being the kid of a mum or dad with psychological sickness.”Typically one sibling finally ends up carrying the burden – generally you are feeling it is your responsibility, generally you are feeling bitterly resentful. There aren’t any straightforward solutions.”The creator is aware of a factor or two about life’s imperfections herself. Having married younger, she speaks frankly in regards to the mismatch together with her ex-husband and the lonely years that adopted.”I bear in mind a day when my marriage had simply damaged up, my boiler practically caught hearth, I had no meals within the fridge and I used to be up at daybreak to do 4 college visits. A trainer stated to me that she envied my glamorous life and I believed: ‘If solely you knew’.”For the previous 23 years, the 79-year-old has been fortunately partnered with a lady, and final 12 months she advised me she was “delighted” to be seen as a homosexual icon.One of the vital touching themes in Image Imperfect is Dolphin’s try to grasp love. Wilson says she was cynical about what love felt like, however that modified when she met her now associate.”I believed the overwhelming feeling of affection was a fable however once I was first relationship my associate I actually did get butterflies and it was simply astonishing.”The Story of Tracy Beaker, starring Dani Harmer, ran on CBBC from 2002 to 2005Given that tattoos are central to each Marigold’s flamboyant character and Dolphin’s chosen profession, I ask Wilson if she would ever get inked herself? She chuckles. “I believed perhaps a tiny dolphin could be a pleasant approach of promoting the e book however my pores and skin’s too fragile so perhaps I will simply get a henna one.”Final 12 months, Wilson launched her first grownup novel, Assume Once more, a sequel to the Ladies collection. It turned the bestselling grownup debut hardback of 2024.She tells me she relishes the liberty of grownup fiction. “In youngsters’s books, you possibly can’t go too far – you do not need to frighten or bore youngsters with grownup particulars. With grownup books, you possibly can put in no matter feels true so it is like getting two bites of the cherry and I really feel very fortunate.”So will extra beloved characters reappear in her grownup novels? Wilson is coy, however hints she is already 30,000 phrases into one other sequel. I spend the subsequent ten minutes guessing which character would be the protagonist of the brand new novel however Wilson solely laughs alongside, giving nothing away. She appeases me by telling me I would be the first particular person to know when it is completed.