My parents at war: Jacqueline Wilson opens up about unhappy early life

Millions of children have been comforted by her books. Now the author reveals that her mother’s death has allowed her to be more open about her childhood

For a long time, Dame Jacqueline Wilson had no idea how sad she was as a child. “If you’d asked me as I was growing up was I happy, I’d have said yes, and been absolutely certain I was. If I was sometimes nervous or anxious, which I was, I would have thought it was my fault.”

Divorce, child abuse and parental neglect all feature regularly in her bestselling children’s books – but until now little has been known about how the writer’s own unhappy childhood has influenced her work. After the death of her mother last year, Wilson, 70, is marking the publication next month of her 105th novel, Clover Moon, by finally allowing her own family skeletons to come out of the closet.

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