I really liked writing about Rachel, Danielle and their friends, so it’s not really that surprising that I ended up writing a sequel, including Nicole’s point of view as well. Because there were so many things that I wanted to do with these characters, and could have done, as well as my struggle with ‘middles’, this book took me a year and a half to write, though a good bit of the ending was written in a single adrenaline-rush-fuelled night. I’m happy with how it turned out.

I’ve been asked a lot about whether I’m going to write another book about these characters. I’m not sure I will – I think sequels should be written within a short space of time, unless they’re set several years after the original, and it’s sort of like getting to know old friends again when you haven’t seen them (written about them) in five years – will it still work out? So I probably won’t continue the story of Rachel, Danielle, Nicole and the rest, but never say never.

Note: (spoilers ahead) a few readers have complained that Rachel is ‘cured too easily’ at the end of the book. I am not sure whether the fact that she’s taking a first, important step rather than ‘magically being okay’ is not clear enough, or whether one just needs to shrug and accept that you can’t control how people react to your own books. If I was going to write any kind of follow-up to Rachel’s story, she’d probably be in group therapy alongside Abi, angsting away…