Showing results for "Jacqueline Wilson" in Literature & Fiction

Diamond wasn’t always a star. Born to penniless parents who longed for a son, she was a dainty, delicate daughter – and a bitter disappointment. Discovering she has an extraordinary natural gift for acrobatics, Diamond tries to use her talent to earn a few pennies. A mysterious stranger spots her performing on the street, and makes a deal with her father. Diamond is sold and is taken to become an acrobat at Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus.

A wonderful new story starring old friends and new from the much-beloved Victorian world of Hetty Feather. Rose Rivers lives in a beautiful house with her artist father, her difficult, fragile mother and her many siblings. She has everything money can buy - beautiful dresses, horse-riding lessons, books - but she’s not satisfied. Why can’t she be sent away to a good school like her twin brother? Why can’t she learn to become a famous artist like her father or his friend Paris Walker? Why is life so unfair for people who were not born rich?

It’s 1953, the year Elizabeth is to be crowned Queen of England. Elsie Kettle can't wait to go to London to see the celebrations on Coronation Day. Elsie lives with her Nan – her mum works as a showgirl, so she's not around very often. Spirited and imaginative, but often lonely, Elsie longs for a best friend. Luckily, she and Nan are very close; Elsie just wishes she was allowed a cat to keep her company sometimes.

Quiet, cautious Pearl has always adored her bold, brash, bad big sister Jodie. When their parents get new jobs at a grand, fusty old boarding school, Melchester College, the girls have to move there – and when they arrive, things start to change. Jodie has always been the leader – but now it's Pearl who's making new friends. Jodie just seems to be getting into more and more trouble – arguing with Mum, scaring the little children, flirting with the gardener.

Amy, Bella, Chloe, Daisy and Emily are friends at school and have their own Alphabet Club (just look at their initials!). Daisy is the newest member and is desperate to fit in, even though Chloe is distinctly unfriendly to her at times. Throughout Daisy’s first year at the school, the girls plan ever-more elaborate sleepover parties for their birthdays. Daisy is dreading the time when her birthday comes round as she doesn’t know what her friends will make of sleeping over at her home, with her rather special older sister.

Hetty Feather was given her name when she was left at the Foundling Hospital as a baby. But she always longed to be named after her incredible sapphire-blue eyes. When she is reunited with her mother, she hopes her new name, Sapphire Battersea, will also mean a new life. But things don’t always go as planned.... Follow the twists and turns of Hetty’s adventures as she begins work. She longs to be reunited with her dear Jem, but also finds a new friend, Bertie the butcher’s boy.

Starring a cast of wonderful characters, both old favourites and new, this is the fifth fabulous Hetty Feather story. Hetty Feather has begun a new chapter in her life story. Escaping from Tanglefield’s Travelling Circus with her dearest friend, Diamond, Hetty is determined to find them positions as glamorous music hall artistes. Hetty and Diamond quickly become the Little Stars of Mrs Ruby’s show, alongside many colourful acts - including an old friend from Hetty’s past, Flirty Bertie.

Ella's mum is in a deep coma, having just had a new baby. That means Ella has to live with Jack, her hopeless stepfather, and cope with her tiny newborn brother, as well as worrying about Mum. The only thing that's going right is her school project. It's all about whales and how they sing out to each other to attract a mate – sometimes for hours. Maybe a whale song could reach Mum, wherever she is, and bring her back to Ella and baby Samson. Surely it's worth a try?

When life with Jayni's violent-tempered father becomes too frightening to cope with, Jayni, her mum and her little brother Kenny are forced to escape in the middle of the night. Slipping out of the house unseen, travelling up to London by train and checking into a hotel – it's almost like playing an elaborate game. They even make up false identities to protect their secret, and Jayni becomes the glamorous-sounding Lola Rose.

Floss's parents are divorced, and she divides up her week, spending five days with her mum, her new step-dad and her baby half-brother. The other two days Floss spends with her dad, helping him to run his greasy spoon cafe. But their simple arrangement is thrown into disarray when Floss's mum decides to move to Australia. Making the difficult decision to stay at home, Floss moves in permanently with her dad and they muddle along happily together, surviving on chip butties and enjoying visits to the local funfair.

Dolphin adores her mother, Marigold. She's got wonderful clothes, bright hair and vivid tattoos all over her body – a colourful lady, to match her colourful life. But Dolphin's older sister, Star, is beginning to wonder if living with Marigold's fiery, unpredictable moods is the best thing for the girls.

Milo, Mia and Birdy are on a countryside holiday, where they are astonished to find an Enchanted Wood. There they encounter some remarkable creatures, including a man with a head like the moon and a fairy with long golden hair, who both live in the tallest tree in the wood. Little Birdy is only too happy to find that fairies are real. Even her older brother and sister are soon won over by the magic of the Faraway Tree and the extraordinary places they discover above it, including the Land of Unicorns and the Land of Dragons.

Tina is a triplet, but she's always been the odd one out. Her sisters, Phil and Maddie, are bigger and stronger and better at just about everything. Luckily they look after teeny-tiny Tina wherever they go--but when the girls start in scary, super-strict Miss Lovejoy's class, they're split up, and Tina has to fend for herself for the first time. Tina is horrified when she's paired up with angry bully Selma, with whom nobody wants to be friends.

Award-winning, best-selling and beloved Jacqueline Wilson tells the fascinating, moving story of a girl sent away from home as an evacuee during the Second World War. September, 1939. As the Second World War begins, 10-year-old Shirley is sent away on a train with her schoolmates. She doesn't know where she's going, or what's going to happen to her when she gets there. All she has been told is that she's going on 'a little holiday'.

Em adores her funny, glamorous dad – who cares if he's not her real father? He's wonderful to her, and to her little brother Maxie and sister Vita. True to form at Christmas, Dad gives them fantastic presents, including a real emerald ring for his little Princess Em.Unfortunately he's got another surprise in store – he's leaving them. Will Dad's well-meaning but chaotic attempts to keep seeing Em and the other children help the family come to terms with this new crisis?

Opal Plumstead might be plain, but she has always been fiercely intelligent. Yet her scholarship and dreams of university are snatched away when her father is sent to prison, and 14-year-old Opal must start work at the Fairy Glen sweet factory to support her family. Opal struggles to get along with the other workers, who think her snobby and stuck-up. But Opal idolises Mrs Roberts, the factory's beautiful, dignified owner, who introduces Opal to the legendary Mrs Pankhurst and her fellow Suffragettes.

A fantastic stand-alone historical novel in the tradition of Hetty Feather and Wave Me Goodbye, this rich, entertaining novel will delight fans news and old. Mona and her aunt live in a little cottage on the edge of the Somerset estate, where her aunt sews wonderful dresses for the lady of the house. Mona never knew her mother or father, but Aunty has always looked after her - and Mona knows she can always talk to her mum where she lies in the village graveyard.

Sylvie and Carl have been friends since they were tiny children. They've always played together, called each other boyfriend and girlfriend and, deep down, Sylvie has always believed that they'd end up married to each other. They even have a magical fantasy world that belongs to them alone.

Since leaving the Foundling Hospital, Hetty has seen her fair share of drama, excitement, tragedy and loss. After the death of her beloved mama, she sets off to find a real home at last – starting with the search for her father. But Hetty is no longer a simple country girl, and begins to fear she’ll never truly belong anywhere. And even when she is reunited with her beloved childhood sweetheart Jem, Hetty still longs for adventure – especially when an enchanting figure from her past makes an unexpected reappearance. Could a more exciting future lie ahead for Hetty?

Fourteen-year-old Prue and her sister Grace have been educated at home by their controlling, super-strict father all their lives. Forced to wear Mum's odd hand-made garments and forbidden from reading teenage magazines, they know they're very different to 'normal' girls – but when Dad has a stroke and ends up in hospital, unable to move or speak, Prue suddenly discovers what it's like to have a little freedom. Sent to a real school for the first time, Prue struggles to fit in.