Many people when they “grow up” wonder when the penny will drop and they’ll finally feel like a fully fledged adult. There have been consistent studies and articles on this subject. In fact, one British study of 18 to 30-year-olds this year found that attitudes to being an adult are shifting as traditional milestones become out of reach.
At 40, Eleanor Allard (aka Ellie) feels much the same and considers herself, to paraphrase the iconic words of Britney Spears, “not a girl, not yet a woman”. This is an enduring theme in the much-anticipated return of Jacqueline Wilson’s Girls in Love series.
Originally featuring four books, Girls in Love (1997), Girls Under Pressure (1998), Girls Out Late (1999) and Girls in Tears (2002), the series followed Ellie and her two best friends, Magda and Nadine, as they navigated their teens. These books were a hit with young girls and broached topics like boys, first sexual feelings and body image issues and changes.
So, when Wilson announced that, 22 years after the last book, she would be publishing a new one for the original fans of the series, British millennials rejoiced. Think Again is Wilson’s first book for an adult audience, but fans of the original series will be happy to see that a lot of what they loved remains. Think Again is a comforting and funny read about friendship, family and finding fulfilment as adults.
We are reintroduced to Ellie, about to celebrate her 40th birthday. She lives in a rented flat in London, has a daughter at university and is single. She has achieved her dreams of making a living from art, working as an art teacher and freelancing as an illustrator for The Guardian.
From the opening page, fans of Girls in Love will find that Ellie’s voice remains comfortingly consistent with the previous books – although with some (expected) added maturity.
Much like the original series, the narrative is told through Ellie’s compelling point of view. Wilson has done a good job of ageing her up, keeping threads from the originals and maintaining Ellie’s tone of voice, with an adult edge.
One example of this is through callbacks to the second book, Girls Under Pressure, which focused on mental health and body issues. In Think Again, these thoughts remain consistently present and primarily negative, as they were in the original. Yet, as an adult, she is able to put her perspective into a modern and grownup framework, helping the readers to do so too.
It’s refreshing to hear Ellie correcting herself and trying to focus on body positivity. Having insight into Ellie’s internal monologue while she tries to rewire her own thinking and challenge her biases is relatable for returning readers who grew up with the same, often fatphobic, messaging when they were younger. The books were published at a time when tiny body sizes were presented by the mainstream as the norm. These women, however, have come through this, emerging into a culture which is trying harder to represent and celebrate every body type.
Jacqueline Wilson surprises her grown-up fans of Girls in Love with Think Again.
While she still grapples with some of the same issues, Ellie’s life has changed in many other ways, such as her success with her career. Readers will be satisfied and pleased for her, even if Ellie herself sometimes struggles to be. Many readers will relate to Ellie’s feelings of self-doubt; despite achieving a lot personally and professionally, she still worries about not having every part of their life in place. She symbolises the desire many Millennial women express to “have it all”. In Ellie’s case, this manifests through her anxiety at still being single at 40, but for readers, these feelings may be about other relationships, their careers or finances.
Although Ellie on her own remains compelling, the most dynamic scenes in the novel occur when she is reunited with best friends, Magda and Nadine. Again, Wilson has done a good job in depicting what these two would look like as adults, while maintaining much of what fans loved about their friendship, including the bickering.
Nadine is still the cool friend, working as a producer, has no plans or desire to be a mum, and is enjoying casual sex. Fans will be relieved that she hasn’t lost her gothic nature. On the surface, it is Magda who has evolved the most. Although she is twice divorced and on the cusp of a third with her new partner, she is portrayed as softer while attempting to fulfil a stepmother role. Luckily, her friends are there to show her that motherhood doesn’t mean traditional; she can still parent while wearing her iconic red lipstick.
The differences between the three women allow Wilson to cover a lot of different joys and pains that their demographic may face. Notably, they all represent differing women’s attitudes to motherhood, with Ellie becoming a young, single mum while studying at university; Nadine knowing that motherhood isn’t for her (especially refreshing and pertinent to current women’s rights issues); and Madga not becoming a mother of any kind until 40. Despite these differences, they are consistently seen supporting each other’s choices throughout the narrative, offering guidance rather than judgment.
Although readers may wish Nadine and Magda were featured more, the fact that they do not have more realism, including the, all too familiar, group chat. While the girls can’t talk all the time like they did at school, they remain close, their friendship largely mediated through texts and calls.
The book is full of lovely nods and anecdotes from the original series. It can, however, be read as a standalone by those who are new to the Girls series, as Wilson does provide consistent context. It’s a treat to get to spend time with these characters again after so long. The narrative wraps up nicely, leaving open possibilities for a sequel.
Think Again, Jacqueline Wilson, Penguin Random House.
Annabel M Yates is a PhD Candidate in the School of Creative and Cultural Industries at Kingston University.This article first appeared on The Conversation.