The Illustrated Mum won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the 1999 Children’s Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was also shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Children’s Book Award. I still love Hetty and she is still my favourite character but she annoyed me a little in this book. Fired from the music hall, Hetty and Diamond join the actors troupe and start rehearsing for a new show, David Copperfield, with Hetty playing a young Davy.

After a long train ride Hetty arrives at the southern coast and checks into an inn as 'Emerald Star'. Speaking of my favourites, dear Gideon, for the short time we saw him again, managed to make me love him even more than I already did. Indeed, it sort of feels as if years have passed since the beginning of this book, and even more so since the beginning of the series (which is actually absolutely true in-universe), and while I'm still my old self, it's almost as if I've changed along with Hetty and her rich gallery of friends and found family. Besides, if I say so myself, he's a perfect match for Hetty, and not just because he's so much closer to her own age and size than. At first, I didn't think Hetty becoming an actress was the right job, but I quickly realised that Hetty enjoyed it thoroughly, Diamond not so much, but she was still adorable.After Mona finds out the truth about Aunty, she runs from everyone else and finds the Queen Elizabeth model, who is actually Hetty Feather. Both girls fell ill during the influenza outbreak, and Hetty became very sick, though Polly recovered fast. I love how we get to visit old characters and see where they are and what they are doing (although some characters don't have happy endings). Yes, Gid, smash those pointless gender roles and stick to your quilting and gardening and whatever brings joy to that poor shellshocked heart of yours.

This is still the ambitious and determined foundling I fell in love reading about, but in a way I couldn't relate to her. I don't know if Jacqueline Wilson is planning on writing another volume in this series (I greatly hope she will), but if she does, I would very much like to see Hetty and Diamond in a much stable place by the end of it. One of Jacqueline’s most successful and enduring creations has been the famous Tracy Beaker, who first appeared in 1991 in The Story of Tracy Beaker. She has appeared in eight books, Hetty Feather, Sapphire Battersea, Emerald Star, Diamond, Little Stars, Clover Moon, Hetty Feather's Christmas and Dancing the Charleston.If you remember Diamond from the last book, it's them spending their lives together, doing everything together, and the stories here are amazing. As well as winning many awards for her books, including the Children’s Book of the Year, Jacqueline is a former Children’s Laureate, and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame. His lurking presence is a good lesson, I think, especially for the older readers who are probably reading this independently. I really enjoyed this book, I originally read Hetty Feather when it came out and I've read each sequel as it came out. I also found that Diamond got quite annoying in this book, I understand she is a child but she did get on my nerves a bit.