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Jaqueline Wilson 100th novel
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Opal Plumstead
This month sees Jacqueline Wilson publish her 100th novel. Miranda Jessop is the envy of her children as she meets the popular author and long-standing Kingston resident
Acclaimed children’s author and Kingston resident Dame Jacqueline Wilson has A-list celebrity status in our house. My three daughters’ shelves are piled high with her work and my bag is laden with books that my children and their chums want her to sign.
Instantly recognisable with her cropped grey hair and glasses, bright waistcoat and trademark silver rings, Jacqueline is very friendly, displaying none of the prima donna behaviour associated with some A-listers!
Now, 68, she was just three when her family relocated from Bath to live in Kingston with her grandparents. When she was six, the family moved into a brand new council flat in Cumberland House. "I have a vivid recollection of my mother crying with joy because she had her own kitchen and central heating," she smiles.
Jacqueline writes about children with troubled backgrounds and I ask about her own childhood.
“My parents did not always get on. Like a lot of couples they married quickly during the war and divorce wasn't really an option. But it was still a reasonably happy childhood.
“Kingston had so many delights,” she continues. “My grandmother and I would go to the old Sainsbury's in Clarence Street. The seasonal fashion show at Bentalls was an occasion. The ladies were referred to as 'mannequins' and one year, because I was too little to see, I ended up sitting on a teenage Petula Clark's lap - what a claim to fame!
“I also loved going to Peggy Brown’s cake shop in Surbiton which had dolls in the window. In summer the dolls were in swimsuits, with sand and little buckets and spades. I still look to my left for Peggy Brown's whenever I go to Surbiton station, but of course it’s not there.”
Jacqueline had no siblings and enjoyed being an only child.
She explains, “It gave me time to read, draw and play imaginary games. My mother says that I would lock myself in the lavatory when I was about three and mutter to myself, inventing characters and playing games inside my head. Before I could read, I would make up stories as I turned pages and, as soon as I could write, I would be trying to write stories. It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do."
Jacqueline was educated at Latchmere in Kingston and then, having passed her 11 plus on the second attempt, at Coombe Girls' School in New Malden. At 17 she moved to Dundee to work as a journalist with publishing company D C Thomson, writing for the bestselling teen magazine Jackie, which was named after her. At just 19 she married a Scottish trainee police officer, and the couple moved back to Kingston. It was then that Jacqueline began to enjoy some success with her writing, publishing several adult crime novels.
In 1967 she had her daughter Emma and, of course, Jacqueline made up stories for her. She then started writing fiction for children, having her first real commercial breakthrough in the early nineties with The Story of Tracy Beaker.
"It was written in a very direct, colloquial way with illustrations by Nick Sharratt and the glorious combination just seemed to work,” she says.
In 2002, the success of Tracy Beaker was sealed with the start of the TV series which is still broadcast on CBBC. Since then Jacqueline, a former Children's Laureate, has gone on to become a multi-award-winning, bestselling author who was recently revealed as the most borrowed author from public libraries over the past decade. This year, the critically acclaimed and hugely successful stage adaptation of her book, Hetty Feather, toured the UK before starting a West End run.
"I was especially proud because it started off at The Rose Theatre," she beams.
While Jacqueline’s career has gone from strength to strength, sadly her personal life has been more difficult with her marriage ending in the late nineties.
"It was a tremendous shock as we had been married for 33 years,” says Jacqueline, “But, almost immediately, I thought to myself, ‘I am going to hold it together and concentrate on my writing even more.’”
Following her divorce, Jacqueline remained in Kingston and, ten years ago, when she needed a bigger house to accommodate her enormous personal collection of books, she bought what had been her grandmother's favourite house.
"My grandmother and I always used to play a game on our way to the shops, deciding which house we liked the best. When the time came for me to move, I dropped a note through the letterbox of our favourite and, amazingly, the owners sold it to me!”.
Jacqueline’s mother, who is 91, lives just around the corner. Emma now lives in Cambridge where she is an academic and Jacqueline shares her home with a new puppy, two cats and a close friend.
She explains, "I have not been in the best of health and my friend does all the shopping, cooking and driving and is a wonderful companion - it works beautifully."
Unfortunately Jacqueline inherited a kidney condition from her father, who died at 57. For the past 14 months she has been undergoing dialysis three times a week for four hours at a time and she is on the waiting list for a transplant.
"It is really not that bad,” she says without a trace of self pity, “I spend the time reading and typing with my left hand - and the nurses are the best ever.
"This month sees publication of Jacqueline's 100th novel, Opal Plumstead, which is set in Edwardian times and she can't wait to tell me about her new heroine. Opal is a fiercely intelligent girl who wants to go to university, but her plans are shattered when her father goes to prison and she has to work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory.
"It was great fun to set a book in a different time and the factory gave me the perfect excuse to include descriptions of old fashioned sweets. It is my longest book so far,” she says, adding with a smile, “Parents often complain to me that when they buy a new book for their child they’ve finished it in a day, but this should keep them going for at least a week!”
I wonder if Jacqueline intends to write any more novels, now that she has made it to a century.
"I have always joked that I wanted to write 100 books and then keel over. But, of course, once I finished Opal Plumstead, I didn't want to keel over! So I've written the 101st and I'm on number 102 now."
I tell her that my children and their friends will be relieved to hear there are more stories in the pipeline. It seems a good moment to bring out my large bag of books. Needless to say, Jacqueline is more than happy to sign them all. She says that she enjoys meeting fans and receives hundreds of letters each month.
"Sometimes children ask for my advice on problems at home, but all I can do is write back as if I am their fond great auntie, suggesting that they talk to a relative or a friend."
Over the years, Jacqueline has seen Kingston change and her own fortunes transform, but she remains loyal to her home town.
"I can't think of a better place to live,” she says, “I like the fact that it is only half an hour's train trip to London. From time to time I have fantasies about living by the seaside or in some glamorous part of London, but I'm a Kingston girl at heart and always will be."
Jacqueline Wilson will be speaking at Guildford Book Festival on Oct 16; guildfordbookfestival.co.uk
