Rachel Pattinson, one of our Adfam Family Voices writers, is the author of award-winning children’s book, Seven: Distracted Detective. Published independently by Aralyn Press, this contemporary novel for children aged 9 – 12 combines an entertaining mystery with a moving storyline about having a parent who drinks.
Dedicated to her Dad, Rachel explains how writing for Adfam led to her win the Hachette Children’s Novel Award ten years’ later, why she published it, and her reflections on Children’s Mental Health Week and COA Week.
I first started writing for children during the last couple of years of my Dad’s life. But when my Dad died in 2013, aged 55, I felt like my creative writing ideas disappeared with him.
It took a long time for them to come back. I didn’t feel like I had much to write about, but something about the Adfam Family Voices competition spoke to me. I wrote a poem – not that I’m much of a poet! – a letter to sixteen-year-old me.
Some of those ideas must have been in my mind when I finally got some inspiration for creative writing again. I started to write my first novel, Seven, and I decided to come up with a two-page outline for the main detective story in advance. But my plan didn’t have a sub-plot. I’d never written anything long enough to need one before.
Anyway, as a discovery writer, this didn’t phase me too much – I thought I’d start, and see what emerged. And maybe it’s a case of write what you know: I got to Chapter 5, wrote the first scene with Seven’s Mam, and thought – oh, ok. So that’s the B-Story. Because the Mam in this story has a late-stage alcohol problem, inspired by my experience of supporting my Dad.
I don’t know if I’d even call it a sub-plot now. I think the mystery of what happens to Riverside Academy’s caretaker, Mr O’Reilly, is so connected with Seven’s relationship with Mam that maybe there wouldn’t be a story without it. My Dad was a memorable storyteller, and he’s woven his way into the novel in other ways, too. I can see him in the caring character of Dad and in Seven, my funny and determined title character.
I was absolutely amazed when this won the Hachette Children’s Novel Award at the Northern Writers Awards 2023, and I was supported by Arts Council England to develop this novel during 2024.
So, I felt like I owed it to Seven – and maybe to the 1 in 5 people in the UK affected by a parent’s drinking, according to charity Nacoa UK – to put it out in the world. Seven launched in November 2025 on my birthday, a date that links my Dad and I together, and it’s published by my independent imprint, named after one of the granddaughters he never met. It is dedicated to him, and it reads:
‘For my Dad. Love you, always.’
Seven, as the book’s sub-title suggests, is a detective. It’s Children’s Mental Health Week, and I find it curious that it was this story that prompted me to explore, through the lens of fiction, what it’s like to have a parent with a drinking problem. Because, to me, addiction still feels like a real-life mystery.
For more information, visit: https://rachelpattinson.co.uk/. Seven: Distracted Detective by Rachel Pattinson is available from major retailers including the Great British Bookshop, Amazon and Blackwell’s, as well as local bookshops.