Fans of Dame Jacqueline Wilson will get a very special opportunity to meet their favourite author at a Super Fan Special event at Kingston’s Rose Theatre in October.

The writer of more than 100 novels for children, including the wildly popular Tracy Beaker and Hetty Feather series, will meet her readers to mark the release of her new book Clover Moon.

The Victorian-themed afternoon will include entertainment such as dancers and a film by her long-time illustrator Nick Sharratt teaching people to draw her characters, as well Dame Jacqueline herself.

She said: “It is almost like talking to children in my own sitting room, multiplied by a hundred. I will be talking for about three-quarters of an hour about Clover Moon and some of my other books.”

Jacqueline said she will also discuss her childhood growing up in Kingston, attending Latchmere School and Coombe Girls’ School.

She added: “And there will be lots of time for questions afterwards and maybe a few photos too. I’m really looking forward to it and I hope the children enjoy it as well.”

Her new book, Clover Moon, is about ‘a little waif and stray’ called Clove’ who overcomes a tough start in life in Victorian London.

Jacqueline said: “She is very poor, but she is very kindly, she is brilliant at looking after all of her little brothers and sisters. She is bright child.

“A strange old dollmaker that lives nearby has actually taught her to read and she is the sort of child that you just know no matter what is going to happen to her she is going to get through and rise above it.”

Though her books are often packed with humour, Jacqueline is conscious to get a good mix of drama and promises there is a ‘tremendously sad scene’ in Clover Moon that ‘perhaps will make the little girls reading it reach for their tissues’.

She said: “I think most children like to read something that is emotionally engaging and will get them a little bit anxious or a little bit sad as long as they are reassured that it will all work out properly in the end.

“Most of my books, no matter how upsetting something can be there are gentle parts, light parts, funny parts so that there is a bit of a contrast throughout.”

Jacqueline added: “The lovely thing about writing books set in Victorian times is you can write about quite harsh and worrying things but it is not too upsetting for children because it is at one remove, it happened in history.

“They can enjoy all the ups and downs of Clover’s life without it actually making them lie awake at night worrying about it.”

The Victorian era is one Jacqueline has memorably mined before in her Hetty Feather books (the stage version of which opened at the Rose Theatre) and she couldn’t resist revisiting it.

She said: “I loved writing about Hetty Feather but in the last book Hetty is about 16 and stepping out into almost adult territory.

“I thought I would like to write a book about another Victorian child, a different sort of girl.”

Jacqueline added: “For any really keen Hetty fans, about three-quarters of the way through Clover Moon there is a little meeting between Clover and Hetty. I couldn’t resist it.”

Jacqueline Wilson’s new book Clover Moon is out October 6. A Jacqueline Wilson Super Fan Special is at the Rose Theatre on Saturday, October 22. Go to rosetheatrekingston.org

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