Taken by John Timbers

Sophie Parkin’s main ambition in life is to have as much fun as humanly possible. This has manifested itself in many ways throughout the years. As a rug rat it was making mud and worm pies, as she got older she maintained her interest in cooking but added chatting and climbing trees to her array of abilities as a seasoned tomboy.

When exams reared their ugly head, she hated them so much she vowed never to do another after ‘A’ levels. This posed a bit of a problem when it came to going to university. Finding out that everybody at art school loves to chat, and that there are no exams for four years, the choice wasn’t very hard. (It is also a well known fact that Art school has far better parties than university).

Sophie now has a degree in Fine Art, otherwise known as painting, chatting, writing, partying, chatting and having fun and the occasional chat. She often thought about marrying her phone, but then e-mail was invented, and mobiles. In between chatting, she has had two children (Paris and Carson, who are great chatterers), had exhibitions of painting, run nightclubs, written grown-up novels and for grown-up newspapers, been a kids’ Agony Aunt for AOL and cooked quite a lot. She has no pets or husbands as she is allergic to both except for a stray cat called Cat, who loves her only for her copious gifts of milk and salmon. It is a simple one way relationship.

This is her first teenage novel about Lily Lovett for Piccadilly Press. Unlike Lily, Sophie has never passed a French exam, and has never learned to speak another language, however she does love Paris (her son, and the city) and is very fond of berets and most French food that doesn’t involve cow, sheep or pigs’ intestines.

Although this is Sophie’s first book for teenagers, she has written 5 adult novels and has broadcast regularly on radio, including contributions to Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio 5, LBC, and Radio London. She has been interviewed on television and radio by more famous names than there is room to list plus writing, devising and presenting her own radio programmes. In her (?)spare time, Sophie has appeared twice at both the Edinburgh and Cheltenham Literary Festivals, plus many other venues and she is always in demand for readings at local bookshops. Her contributions to newspapers and magazines cover an enormous range: from The Times to Londoner’s Diary and from The Guardian to Marie Claire.