In October last year, I posted about Rita’s Revenge, a companion book to A Clue for Clara. I’m very excited to be able to tell you that I now have a contract, and it will be published by Allen & Unwin in July next year.

I didn’t really think I would be writing a follow-up to Clara. It was meant to be a standalone novel. But then of course, as always happens, I got interested in the world and the characters, and wanted to keep going.

One of my favourite parts of A Clue for Clara is the ‘ducks are mad’ joke that runs through it. It made me laugh, and it made other people laugh, and I never once stopped to think about how the ducks of Little Dismal would react to someone saying such terrible things about them.

But once the book was finished, I started wondering.

And that’s when the character of Rita appeared. A disgraced duck. A duck who has done something that is not on the list of approved activities. A duck who has behaved so badly that none of her fellow ducks will even look at her anymore.

What would such a duck do to be accepted back into the flock?

I adore this book. It makes me laugh, even though I wrote it. My publisher described it as ‘completely hilarious and ingenious’. My editor described it as ‘one of those rare books that is both deeply clever and full of heart’.

That’s a lot to live up to, right? So fingers crossed that you’re all going to love it too.