Children’s novelist Jacqueline Wilson comes out with new book

With the release of her 111th book, Love Frankie, children’s author Jacqueline Wilson has publicly come out by confirming her happy life with her partner of 18 years, Trish.

Wilson is known for the Hetty Feather series and the Tracy Beaker series; the latter was developed into a television show in the UK.

Her newest book is about a tomboy, Frankie, who falls for the prettiest girl in her class, Sally. This work was something Wilson had put her “heart and soul” into, she told the Guardian Review.

Jacqueline Wilson’s secret no more

Prior to her revelation, Wilson had not spoken publicly about her relationship with her partner, whom she met at a party when her marriage had fallen apart in the 2000s.

Wilson had gotten married at the age of 19 and had a daughter with her husband. With her current partner, Wilson said, “It’s funny we are compatible in every way apart from our blood type.”

But for those who knew the 74-year old writer and former children’s laureate who had written a number of children’s classics, her relationship was an open secret.

“I’ve never really been in any kind of closet. It would be such old news for anybody that has ever known anything much about me. Even the vaguest acquaintance knows perfectly well that we are a couple,” she said.

She added that only her mother was “appalled” at her relationship but “that wasn’t too devastating for me because my mum cordially hated my ex-husband; she didn’t really approve of any of my friends.”

Wilson said that a novelist friend had described her not as a lesbian but “a Trishian.” Wilson added that, “I think that really sums me up.”

Jacqueline Wilson and the tomboy Frankie

Wilson further said she hadn’t had focused on gay characters in her books because she told stories about children with problems. However, she didn’t see “any problem whatsoever with being gay.”

In her latest work, Love Frankie, Wilson said she wanted to write “a truthful, honest book about a girl falling in love with another girl.”

“It’s certainly not aimed at young gay teenagers, it’s aimed at all teenagers who have ever worried because they haven’t fallen in love, or they have fallen in love,” she said.

But she did knew “perfectly well that [the book] would shine a little light on my own private life.”

The writer likewise said she doesn’t see herself as a mentor for LGBTQ teens: “I don’t think that girls would ever want a grey-haired, wrinkly writer as a role model if they were wanting to feel good about maybe being gay.”

“I’m sure they could find much more glamorous examples,” she added.