Children's Laureate 2001-2003
Carnegie Medal 1989, 1992
Whitbread Award 1993, 1996
Guardian Fiction Award 1990
Children's Laureate 2001-2003
Carnegie Medal 1989, 1992
Whitbread Award 1993, 1996
Guardian Fiction Award 1990
Lulu's intolerable. Sexy, long-legged and ruthless, she wormed her way into her new stepfamily when she was very young and, with spite as her principal hobby, has spent every moment since trying to undermine her dumpy and hardworking stepsister Geraldine. Jobs, lovers, passions - Lulu picks up and drops any and all of these almost as often as she chooses and discards her stylish clothes - all the while confident that Geraldine and her faithfully supportive husband Robert will bail her out of any passing problem.
But everything's about to change. Because nobody, not even watchful Robert, has ever realised quite how much of Geraldine's patience with Lulu and her determination to keep all of her family on the rails is based on one small assumption about the mother who spent so many years raising both girls together.
In this, her eighth novel for adults, Anne Fine once again displays her extraordinary facility to unpick the tangled threads of family relationships and - to our astonishment and for our deep amusement - lay them bare.
Anne was interviewed about Our Precious Lulu (and other subjects!) on Woman's Hour - hear what she had to say.
"Geraldine and her incredibly patient husband talk to each other about Lulu with the blackest of humours, each complaining word - and no writer uses italics to greater effect - another dagger wielded in this rich feud. Best read after rather than before any extended-family event, this wickedly entertaining novel, with its unexpectedly happy ending, is not one to miss."
"Fine's depiction of a cunning and manipulative character is masterful, and the conclusion is horribly satisfying"
Our Precious Lulu, a book for adults by Anne Fine, was published by Bantam Press on 4th June 2009; click the Amazon logo to order it from 
or order it from your local bookshop, quoting the ISBN: 978-0-593-06361-3.
It was issued as an audio book, read by Jilly Bond, on 1st December 2009; use the links to order it from Amazon, or ask your local bookshop to get it for you - you can help them by quoting the ISBN: audio CD (ISBN: 978-0-7531-4641-5); MP3 audio CD (ISBN: 978-0-7531-4642-2) and audio cassette (ISBN: 978-07-5314-640-8) - or order direct from the publisher, ISIS Soundings.
The large print edition is available Ulverscroft Large Print in hardback or in paperback (published on November 1st 2010).
The Black Swan paperback edition is available from Amazon, or from your local bookshop, quoting the ISBN (978-0-5527-7573-1).