Helen Bailey obituary
This article is more than 7 years oldChildren’s author whose funny, fast-paced novels captured the anguish and ecstasy of adolescenceHelen Bailey, who has died aged 51, was a creative children’s author whose books depended on her witty and sharply observed understanding of what matters most to young readers – especially those in their early teens. In her chattily told stories, many of which were drawn directly from her own schooldays, she benignly and shrewdly captured the anguish and ecstasy of adolescence.
Her first teenage title, Life at the Shallow End: The Crazy World of Electra Brown, published in 2008, was quickly followed by Out of My Depth (2008), Swimming Against the Tide (2009) and Taking the Plunge (2009). Friendships, families and the overwhelming importance of mascara fuelled the funny, fast-paced, easy-to-read titles and put Bailey immediately among the most-read teen writers. Often enjoyed alongside Louise Rennison’s Georgia Nicolson titles, Bailey’s Electra Brown stories brought her a loyal band of readers and she was shortlisted for the prestigious Queen of Teen award in 2010.
She moved on from Electra Brown with Running in Heels (2011), a riches-to-rags story about Daisy Davenport, and Knowing Me, Knowing You (2011), about Chantelle, whose parents embarrass her cruelly by playing in an Abba tribute band. Bailey’s editor Anne McNeil, senior publisher at Hodder Children’s Books, described her as having “a rare talent” and put her success down to her having “the ability to enter into the emotional lives of her characters with a wit and wisdom which is recognised by readers and the hallmark of all great writers of fiction – the skill of stepping into the hearts and minds of her characters. Empathy, wit, observation, hard work and dedication – all of these were attributes Helen had in abundance.”
Although she began writing short stories in her teens and even invested her pocket money in The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook, becoming an author was not Bailey’s first career choice. She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and brought up in Ponteland, Northumberland, where her father was a public health inspector. She never cared much for Ponteland high school, although it was to prove to be a useful source of stories for her subsequent writing. Bailey left with a love of animals and what she described as “spectacularly disastrous” A-levels.
Her original ambition, after a degree in physiology at Thames Polytechnic, London (now the University of Greenwich), was to do a PhD in something scientific – largely, as she later wrote, because: “I rather fancied the idea of being called Dr Bailey and whizzing around in a white coat.” After a year, scientific study palled and she decided to take a brief break working in the media before returning to her studies. In 1987 she joined PSL (Patrick Sinfield Ltd), the UK licensing company that represented several major international properties including E.T. The Extra-Terrestial, found that she loved the work and realised that there was no going back.
Bailey worked on big brands such as Rugrats, Nintendo, Dirty Dancing, Snoopy and Garfield. She also fell in love with John Sinfield, one of the founders of the company, whom she married in 1996, and the two worked together on many of the biggest PSL projects. When Bailey began writing, she drew on that experience, creating whole imaginary worlds with a strong character lead.
Initially teaming up with the illustrator and author Emma Thomson, she co-authored several Felicity Wishes books for seven to nine-year-olds, including the story collections Felicity Wishes: Spooky Sleepover (2002) and Felicity Wishes: Dancing Dreams (2006) and, for younger readers, the picture books Friendship and Fairyschool (2001) and Snowflakes & Sparkledust (2004). Bailey created a couple of other series for younger readers, including four titles between 2006 and 2010 about Topaz and her friends at the Precious Gems Stage School, before she began to write for teenagers.
In 2011 Sinfield was drowned while he and Bailey were on holiday in Barbados. Bailey stopped writing for young readers. Instead, she wrote Planet Grief, a blog about the complexities of grieving and trying to make sense of a situation in which she went from wife to widow between breakfast and lunch. She turned the blog into a memoir, When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis (2015).
In the book Bailey described meeting and falling in love with Ian Stewart, whose wife had died in 2010. Together, they moved from London to Royston in Hertfordshire. Bailey went missing in April 2016. Her body was found in the grounds of the home she shared with Stewart on 15 July, and he was soon afterwards charged with her murder.
Helen Bailey, children’s author, born 22 August 1964; found dead 15 July 2016
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