SC: There were so many that were really fun to write—particularly the school trip scenes in The Lights Under The Lake and the Halloween ones in The Curse in the Candlelight. But I think my favorite was the letter that the twins find from their mother. I really felt as if she were writing through me—and I cried a lot! Introducing an extraordinary new voice---a magical debut that will make your skin tingle, your eyes glisten . . .and your heart sing.

The setting of an English all-girls boarding school also allows for a wide range of female voices to be heard. In fact, across the whole series, the number of male characters with speaking parts can almost be counted on one hand compared with the dozens of female characters—I’m pretty sure the series would actually fail a reverse Bechdel Test until the final installment. Winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2017, and the British Book Awards' Children's Book of Year 2017

Set in the 1930s at Rookwood School - a creepy boarding school with plenty of dark secrets - the books follow twin sisters, troublesome Scarlet and quiet Ivy, as they investigate the disturbing mysteries that lurk behind closed doors. The first gripping, Agatha Christie-style mystery starring a brilliant new double act: feisty, funny schoolgirl detectives, Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong.

So Ivy now has to take on a great challenge. Scarlet and Ivy are like day and night, like chalk and cheese. But she has to remember all of her memories of Scarlet, otherwise she'll be in trouble. One day, she discovers a diary, Scarlet's, which tells her, bit by bit, the mysteries Ivy desperately wants to solve. Why did Scarlet die? Why did she obey Miss Fox?Just as things are seeming to improve at Rookwood, the girls’ beloved ballet teacher Miss Finch disappears. The mysterious Madame Zelda takes her place, and poison pen letters begin to circulate around the school, reaching both pupils and staff. The girls decide to investigate and discover a story of revenge.

Can Ivy solve the mystery before Miss Fox suspects? Or before an even greater danger presents itself? SC: I really love the twins’ best friend Ariadne. She is so enjoyable to write as she’s very clever and funny, whilst at the same time being terribly “uncool.” I wanted to write someone that the twins might write off as annoying or weird, only to discover that once you get to know her she is fantastic—brave and fun and a wonderfully loyal friend. I would love to have a friend like her and I would strive to be the same way myself!I was able to get in touch with the author of Scarlet and Ivy, Sophie Cleverly, to ask her some questions about the series and her plans for the future. There’s a new girl at Rookwood. Ebony claims to be a witch and soon seems to have most of the students (and the teachers) under her spell. Scarlet and Ivy don’t believe in witchcraft but something weird is definitely going on, and it’s down to them to figure out what before their best friend gets dragged down with it all.