I know these marriages had often been little short of fleeting, and the Scottish parents surrounding me on our return had usually invested years more in their marriages before giving up. In the Californian school my children attended, divorced parents sat together at concerts and meetings, changed arrangements to suit one another's schedules and happily ferried cellos and tubas from one house to the other. I don't believe I'd given any thought at all to the children of divorce until we came back to Scotland after three years abroad. But these particular books have definitely gained more notice, and gathered many more readers, along the way. Looking back, I have, statistically, only the same percentage of split families as are around us. I used to be surprised that divorced families are seen almost as 'Anne Fine's literary stomping ground'. It helps, of course, that there are no villains in this novel, no outsiders who know or care so little about young people, that they make things even more difficult than they would be anyway. Writing Shades of Scarlet was a pleasure because, unusually, I'd chosen to write about a girl who's tough and smart and sensitive enough to not only realise what's happening around her during her parents' separation, but basically equipped, with only a few wobbles, to deal with it well and come out not only more mature, but smiling. Author Anne Fine shares some of her own experiences in writing about these topics for children, and reiterates how allowing children their own feelings can help them adjust to a different family life. Shades of Scarlet is about a girl navigating the emotional impact of her parents' divorce. Shades of Scarlet: Anne Fine on talking to children about separation and divorce

Goggle-Eyes by Anne Fine