A beloved children’s author is back with her first adults' novel since the 1970s.

Dame Jacqueline Wilson has written more than 100 books in her time, but she faced a peculiar amount of pressure with her latest.

Jacqueline, who lives near Alfriston, has continued her popular Girls series – revisiting the lives of Ellie, Magda and Nadine, who are now aged 40.

“I got excited and a little bit worried,” Jacqueline, 78, said of writing an adult sequel to the four-part Girls series, which began with 1997’s Girls In Love, followed by Girls Under Pressure, Girls Out Late and what was thought to be the finale Girls In Tears, published in 2002.

The original Girls books were published in the late 90s and early 00sThe original Girls books were published in the late 90s and early 00s (Image: Jacqueline Wilson/Nick Sharratt)

“I don’t know, I think it’s a silly writer thing. You have to have immense confidence to start a book and feel that people would want to read it and yet you also suffer agonies, thinking: Is it alright? I veer from one to the other – but then I always have done," she said.

She hopes that the new book, Think Again, is not a “crashing disappointment” to her long-time fans who followed the series years ago.

Asked why she chose to revisit the characters now, she said: “Forty is an interesting age, because if you want children and you don’t have them, you might think you want to get a move on. If you’ve got a partner and they seem like a five and a half out of ten, you think: Do I want to move on elsewhere? If you’re in a profession that you’ve worked really hard for, but you’ve got stuck at a certain level, you think, is this what I want to do for the next 20 years of my life?

“There’s so many different things you can do and thank goodness it’s not a sign of, right, now I must stop wearing cute clothes and consider whether I can still dance. Even my mother’s generation, 40 was the start of wearing much more staid clothing and staying at home knitting. Thank God it’s not like that at all any more.”

READ MORE: Jacqueline Wilson reads to zoo animals for World Book Day

The adult book is Jacqueline's first since the 1970s and is a bit different to the well-trodden ground of her children’s books, where she’s known for creating much-loved characters like Tracy Beaker.

One good thing about writing an adults' book is the “freedom” it allowed Jacqueline, who lives with her long-term partner, Trish.

“There’s certainly more freedom writing an adult book than a children’s book – although I don’t think there’s anything in Think Again that would really disturb a precocious child, they’d probably be bored reading about adults,” she said.

The cover of Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson, which is out todayThe cover of Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson, which is out today (Image: PA)

The ending of Think Again feels somewhat open, but Wilson says she has no current plans to continue Ellie’s story further into adulthood. That’s not to say she’s slowing down any time soon, with mysterious projects and more children’s books on the horizon.

“I do still get ideas, thank goodness – they’re not quite as much as they used to be, but they’re still there,” Jacqueline said.

“While I can still string two sentences together, I’m not giving up.”

Think Again by Jacqueline Wilson is published in hardback by Bantam, for £22. It is released on September 12.