I wrote this book the summer after I finished secondary school, while I was still waiting for Leaving Cert results (for the non-Irish among you, those are the all-important results that determine your eligibility for college courses). Needing the distraction from the worry/angst/stress, I wrote 2000+ words a day, every day. The edits and revisions took longer than the initial writing.

My last few books had focussed very heavily on friendships and romantic relationships of older teenagers (Abi is sixteen, Emily is seventeen) and I wanted to write about a younger teenager, and have a story that focussed more on her family than on her friends (though they are important in this story) and her own romantic relationships (although other people’s do play a big part in this story). There is also mildly gratuitous referencing of my favourite poem, because “disturbing the universe” is one of my favourite themes. (I mean ‘theme’ in the vaguest, least English-teacher-preparing-you-for-exams sense possible…) Claudia’s mum does it when she walks out but Claudia herself is afraid to – at first, anyway.