“You’re not the townie that people thought you were, are you?” Trish says lovingly. “What’s so lovely now is that we’ve made more best friends here than we’ve ever had,” she says. “A lot of friends thought I would hate it and would want to come back immediately,” Wilson says. Seven years ago, they upped sticks and moved from Kingston upon Thames in south-west London to the Sussex countryside. For the past 21 years she has been in a relationship with her civil partner, Trish, who is here today. Back in 2001, she had recently separated from her husband of 30 years and was single. She has been awarded an OBE, been made a dame, has served as children’s laureate, suffered heart failure and had a kidney replacement.
Wilson’s life has also changed dramatically since Sleepovers was published. It turns out the author has strong views on TikTok, and the digital world in general. Now when the snotty bully Chloe is desperate to show off in front of her peer group, she does so by boasting that a TikTok influencer will be coming to her sleepover. The girls are the same age, but the setting is bang up to date. In the new book, Lily is the hero – sassy, communicative (she communicates using the sign language Makaton) with a super-cool disabled best friend. In the first book, Lily, the non-verbal, wheelchair-using sister of the narrator Daisy, is largely passive. Not just in terms of technology, but attitudes. So much has changed since the largely analogue days of Sleepovers. What Wilson understood from the off is that lots of us think of ourselves as outsiders. Early on, her books were dismissed as being about and for outsiders. It’s why Wilson’s books resonate with so many young people, especially girls – she understands how they feel how tough it can be to grow up. ‘How many books do we own? I would say 15,000’ … Wilson at home in rural Sussex. There’s nothing wrong with you – it’s just the way life works out.” I also wanted to show you’re not alone if that happens to you.
“Parents often take the attitude: ‘Don’t worry – you’ll get in another group soon,’ but the agony of going around the playground by yourself is awful. “Children not having a best friend or losing their best friend is a really serious thing,” she says. And second, it’s about something at the heart of young (and older) lives – friendship and friendship betrayed. Sleepovers is one of her five best bestselling books, and she believes there are two reasons. Wilson has written well over 100 books, sold about 40m copies in the UK alone, been translated into 34 languages and was for years the most borrowed author from British libraries. But the more she asked fans which of her books were their favourites, the more she realised how popular it was. Wilson had considered Sleepovers one of her minor works – it’s a short book for readers aged seven and over.
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