SC: I am definitely more like Ivy, I think. I am quite shy and bookish but have the occasional urge to have fun and go on adventures! But I have to say that Scarlet is my favorite twin to write as I sort of live vicariously through her. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and loves getting in all sorts of trouble. 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. SC: After having a bit of a break due to the birth of my daughter, I am working on a new series which is due to start next year. It’s all a bit of a secret at the moment, but I hope it will appeal to my fans.

But when their favorite teacher suddenly leaves, strange Madame Zelda takes her place. Then poison-pen letters begin to circulate and 'accidents' plague the school. Is someone out for the ultimate revenge? There's a new girl at Rookwood School, and a new mystery for Scarlet and Ivy to solve. It's a brand-new term for Scarlet and Ivy, and the girls are intrigued by a fascinating new girl, Ebony. She's as enchanting as she is mysterious, and she's began to gather quite the following - in fact, most of the younger girls appear to be under her spell. 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. Over the last few months, I have been working my way through the Scarlet and Ivy series by Sophie Cleverly. This middle-grade book series captured my imagination and is now entertaining my nine-year-old son as well. What Is Scarlet and Ivy? GM: Finally, my nine-year-old son would like to ask what made you choose to add in the character of Rose in The Whispers in the Walls?

Books Multibuys

SC: Definitely! After hearing about things like the Bechdel Test, I really liked the idea of a series where the focus is almost entirely on girls and women due to the all-girls school environment. I went to an all-girls school myself (though it wasn’t private or a boarding school), so it was very familiar to me. I wanted to showcase female voices with a wide range of differences. Locals say that at night the troubled souls buried in the ancient flooded graveyard no longer rest in peace... Deep, dark midwinter had come to Rookwood. The wind is howling. The snow is falling. But that's not the only reason pupils are feeling the chill... Scarlet and Ivy” is a series of young adult novels by American author Sophie Cleverly. The first novel of the series was “The Lost Twin” a highly popular and critically acclaimed novel that was such a success that it spawned an entire novel series that is still ongoing. Sophie Cleverly was born in 1989 in Bath, a small town in Maine. Growing up, she was very much interested in children’s literature and read the likes of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett who incidentally write both children and adult literature. Her “Scarlet and Ivy” series has been greatly inspired by “The Graveyard Book” and “Coraline” by Gaiman and “Tiffany Aching” by Pratchett. What she especially liked about these novels was that they were beautiful, sad, scary, and funny all at the same time. She was quite the reader and would visit the city library and borrow as many books as she could to read during the week. In addition to these, she would also take as many books as she could from the older classes bookshelves, as she had already read all the books in her class. It is not surprising that her novels have been compared to Nancy Drew as she absolutely loved to read the likes of The Famous Five, Nancy Drew, The Baby Sitters Club and Goosebumps. Of these series she collected and read nearly every title. Aside from detective fiction she also read a lot of mystery novels which made her believe that she wanted to become a mystery author when she grew up.

GM: Were there any other characters you especially enjoyed writing? If so, what was it about them that inspired you? With evil headmaster, Mr Bartholomew, safely out of the picture, life is looking up for Scarlet and Ivy. When Scarlet and Ivy return to school after the holidays, trouble is afoot and the very existence of Rookwood is threatened.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. Twins Scarlet and Ivy Grey can’t wait to sign up for the school trip and get away from classes for a few days. But nothing is as it seems; the creepy lakeside hotel and the deep waters of Lake Seren hide dark secrets. Precious things disappear from their rooms, a malicious force leaves a trail of destruction and mysteries start to surface. If they ever hope to leave this place, the girls from Rookwood School must face the danger head on... Nasty notes. Frightening dreams. Rumours running wild. The girls of Rookwood School are in danger once more...

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! 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. But rumours swirl like ghosts around Ebony, and not all of them are nice. And when a prank on All Hallow's Eve goes horribly wrong, it's Ebony who gets the blame. Ivy and Scarlet aren't so sure. There might be more to Ebony than meets the eye, but surely she's not dangerous? But if it's not Ebony, then who or what is to blame? 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.

Scarlet and Ivy is a middle-grade series of six books, the latest one (and last in the series) was released in January 2019. The books follow the adventures of Scarlet and Ivy Grey, thirteen-year-old twins who attend Rookwood School, an English boarding school in the 1930s. Throughout the books, we get to know the girls and their family, along with their friends, and the teachers at the school as they solve a series of mysteries. Other than book one, The Lost Twin, the books are told in chapters that alternate between the perspectives of the two girls. As for Rose’s character, she is quite different to the other girls—she is very shy, she struggles with speech and learning (often being selectively mute), and has a special interest in horses. Her differences wouldn’t be well understood in those days, but I wanted to show that she could be an important part of the group, too.