A 40th birthday, a cat named Stella, and a life on pause
Two decades after readers last swapped secrets with Ellie, Nadine and Magda, Jacqueline Wilson is back—only this time the girls aren’t girls. In her first adult novel, Think Again, Wilson picks up their story at 40, handing fans a reunion that’s equal parts nostalgia and midlife reality check.
The setup lands fast. Ellie wakes up on her birthday, nudged into consciousness by Stella, her cat with perfect timing. There’s the tiny flat, the familiar jumble of everyday comforts, and the blunt admission that her love life has stalled. Then the phone rings—early. A birthday call, yes, but also a hint of movement: someone is checking train times to come see her. It’s a small beat, but it signals what the book promises—a life that’s been idling suddenly moving out of neutral.
Wilson announced the novel earlier in 2024, positioning it as a return to beloved characters with grown‑up stakes. Ellie has a daughter she adores, a home she’s made her own, and a steady routine that looks fine on paper. Yet the first chapter makes it clear she feels like she’s been living on autopilot. That birthday “curveball” she mentions? It’s the catalyst. You can feel Wilson laying the tracks for a shift from comfort to risk.
If you grew up with the Girls in Love series, the tone will ring a bell. The voice is candid, funny, and gently self‑critical. Ellie’s observations are everyday and specific—cat fur, cramped space, a phone buzzing too early—and that’s the point. Wilson always built big themes out of small moments. Here, she uses the intimacy of a morning routine to crack open deeper questions: What do you owe the younger version of yourself? How do you start a second act when you barely noticed the first one ending?
The chapter also nods to the wider world of the trio. Nadine and Magda are out there, living very different lives that have pulled them in unexpected directions. We don’t get their full updates yet, but the implication is clear: friendships that meant everything at 14 need new rules at 40. The anticipation is half the hook—when they do reappear, the chemistry and the friction will matter as much as the memories.
Here’s what the opening makes plain without oversharing the plot:
- Ellie is starting her 40s feeling stuck, not broken, which makes the coming shake‑up more interesting than a classic meltdown.
- Her world is small but chosen—a child, a cat, a flat—and the novel asks what happens when “good enough” stops feeling good enough.
- A visitor is on the way, and that train‑time call suggests the past and present are about to collide.
Why bringing Ellie, Nadine and Magda back now matters
Wilson’s timing hits a generation sweet spot. The original readers who met Ellie in their teens are now juggling rent rises, WhatsApp family chats, and the uneasy math of time—career years, parenting years, years that blur. Watching a familiar character navigate the same stage feels both comforting and bracing. It’s not just “where are they now?” It’s “how do we change without losing ourselves?”
There’s also a bigger literary shift in play. A lot of authors are revisiting characters who grew up alongside their audience, but Wilson’s angle is distinctive. She built her name on emotional clarity for younger readers—no coy metaphors, no sugarcoating, just clean lines and truth. That style translates well to adult fiction, especially when the drama is internal: midlife choices, fading friendships, the quiet panic of realizing routine has replaced hunger.
Fans of the original series will clock the continuity. Ellie’s voice still carries that mix of self‑doubt and wit. The domestic details still do the heavy lifting. And the stakes still come packaged in familiar forms—birthdays, best friends, plans that don’t behave. What’s different is the weight. Decisions at 40 echo in ways they didn’t at 14. A new relationship isn’t just romance; it’s logistics. A job shift isn’t just adventure; it’s security. That’s where Wilson seems to be steering the story.
The first‑chapter preview—shared exclusively by Cosmopolitan UK—doesn’t go big on plot, and that’s smart. It earns trust first. By the time the birthday curveball lands, you know Ellie’s rhythms well enough to feel the impact. Stella the cat nuzzling at dawn, the small pride in a lived‑in space, the tiny ache in the mention of no sex life—it all adds up to a life that’s fine until it isn’t.
As for Nadine and Magda, the early signal is that their paths will counterbalance Ellie’s. Expect contrast, not clones. One may have chased intensity, the other stability. Wilson tends to use their differences to test Ellie’s outlook—pushing her to defend, adjust, or abandon the stories she tells herself.
If you’re new to the universe, you won’t be lost. The book stands on its own, and the adult framing gives you an easy entry point. If you’re returning, there’s a quiet thrill in seeing your old crew again—only now the questions are older, and so are you. The promise of the preview is simple: change is coming, and this time the fallout isn’t just teenage drama. It’s mortgages, co‑parenting, bodies that don’t bounce back after a rough night, and the small‑hours math of what happiness costs.
So yes, the first chapter is cozy: birthday calls, plans forming, a cat stealing the scene. But beneath that calm is a pivot. Wilson lights the fuse slowly, and you can feel it. The rest of the novel will likely test how far Ellie can stretch without snapping the ties that still matter—motherhood, friendship, self‑respect—and whether she can build a life that feels chosen, not inherited from her younger self.
