Midnight (Wilson novel)
| Author | Jacqueline Wilson |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Nick Sharratt |
| Cover artist | William Moore |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel, Fantasy |
| Publisher | Doubleday (first edition, hardback) |
Publication date | 2003 |
Midnight is a children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson.
It tells the story of a girl called Violet and her brother Will, who it turns out is adopted.
Plot
Violet is a shy and lonely girl who spends her time daydreaming about fairytales and idolizes the fantasy author/illustrator Casper Dream. She lives with her meek mother, her policeman father and her older brother Will, who's become distant since finding out he's adopted. Violet is conflicted over her brother: she loves him dearly and looks up to him, but he can be scary and abusive when he wants to. He has a lot of arguments with his father and refuses to go see his grandmother on her birthday. She was the one who told him he was adopted after he insulted her Christmas present to him.
A new girl, called Jasmine, arrives at school and quickly becomes Violet's one and only friend. Violet is surprised at this, because Jasmine is pretty and popular and Violet is not. Jasmine seems particularly interested in Will, making Violet wonder if her new friendship is only because she has a crush on her older brother. Jasmine's father is a famous actor and her parents are divorced. She feels angry at her mother for leaving her and misses her dead grandmother. Jasmine makes Violet more independent, and she starts to question her parent's authority. When she gives Jasmine a jasmine fairy doll she sewed herself, Jasmine appears to treasure it and ties it around her neck.
While Jasmine is at Violet's house one day, Will dares Violet to spend ten minutes in their attic. While there, she discovers a photo album revealing that their parents adopted Will to replace the baby boy they'd recently lost. When Violet comes down, she sees Will and Jasmine kissing and mocking her love of Casper Dream's fairies. She shouts at them and wrecks the fairy display in her room, before storming out.
Violet runs away and goes to see Casper Dream's old house. There she finds Casper Dream himself and she finds that he is not handsome like she thought he would be. He tells her how he was a shy, awkward child like her; and found an escape in fantasy art. He inspires Violet to continue making her own creations. When Violet returns home, Jasmine is apologetic and regretful. Violet forgives both Jasmine and Will. Afterwards, she confronts her parents about the first Will. They eventually tell her and Will the truth and soon things begin to become better for Violet. That night Will leaves a note under Violet's bedroom door telling her to look out of the kitchen window in ten minutes. When she does this she sees that Will has fixed all her fairies and has hung them up in a tree in their back garden.