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Picture Imperfect

The feel-good new adult novel and instant Sunday Times bestseller

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Picture Imperfect

By: Jacqueline Wilson
Narrated by: Megan Richards
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Discover the joyful and uplifting new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Think Again, a nostalgic adult sequel to the beloved classic The Illustrated Mum.

Will Dolphin retrace old patterns - or illustrate her own?

Dolphin Westward spent her childhood as the supporting character in the story of her beautiful, wild, volatile mother Marigold.

Now thirty-three, she’s painfully aware that not much has changed. She lives in a tiny bedsit, works in a tattoo shop by day and collects her illustrated mum from police stations by night.

Dol yearns to climb out of the rut she is stuck in, but has no idea where to begin. Could gardener Lee and his daughter Ava be her chance for a wholesome family life? Or maybe a steamy romance with roguish actor Joel is just what she needs. And what about the offer from her sister Star, now a successful doctor, to move to Scotland and live with her young family?

As the choices threaten to overwhelm her, will Dol fall into the role of extra in someone else’s story once again – or find the strength to forge a brand new path of her own?

'Jacqueline Wilson taps into the joys and pains of women everywhere.' Dawn O'Porter, bestselling author of So Lucky

'This story offers grown-ups what Wilson has long offered teenagers: comfort, sanity and delight in the ordinary.' Daily Mail

'A read-in-a-day comfort book.' The Independent

© Jacqueline Wilson 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Clean & Wholesome Genre Fiction LGBTQIA+ Creators Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
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Critic reviews

Praise for Jacqueline Wilson
A read-in-a-day comfort book.
Nuanced and refreshing...beautifully told.
This story offers grown-ups what Wilson has long offered teenagers: comfort, sanity and delight in the ordinary.
Jacqueline Wilson taps into the joys and pains of women everywhere.
Wilson knocks it out of the park once again...a moving story that is as fun to read as it is meaningful.
She is a national treasure.
Realistic, sharp eyed...I loved it and didn’t want it to end.
Praise for Picture Imperfect
‘Jacqueline Wilson is a national treasure! Picture Imperfect is at once beautiful, sad and uplifting.’ (Alice Winn)
All stars
Most relevant
As someone who was around Dol's age when the first book came out, I read The Illustrated Mum til I was cross eyed. Bringing Dol into modern times was always going to be difficult since the book was a huge part of lots of people's reading childhood.

Is it perfect? No. Did I love it anyway? Yes. I completely believed that adult Dol was a realistic adult version of the little girl in the first book. I liked the story and the characters had good depth.

The only thing that stuck out was the same thing I've always thought about JWs books (even when I was a kid reading the children's books). The dialogue just isn't realistic. I don't know any 33 year old who says things like "I feel a fool" and "ever so" and I didn't know any teens that said these things in the noughties either! Other than that, I enjoyed it.

It ends quite abruptly - perhaps a sequel is coming?

This was always going to be tricky...

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The Illustrated Mum deeply resonated with me during my teenage years. I found it incredibly relatable, and it left a lasting impact on me. I was thrilled to discover this book as a young adult, and as someone with similar experiences, especially having a parent struggling with mental health, it felt particularly meaningful and authentic.

Nostalgic read

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As a lifelong JW fan, I was thrilled for this release and reread The Illustrated Mum. The story is engaging and the character updates are a joy. However, as someone with severe dyslexia who relies on audiobooks, I found Doll’s dyslexia portrayed unrealistically—at 33 she can’t read simple words and rarely uses context or pictures, which makes her seem almost illiterate. Dyslexia makes reading slow and tiring, and spelling tough, but not usually to that extreme. That misrepresentation pulled me out of an otherwise strong, enjoyable book.

Reunited with Favourites, Let Down by the Dyslexia Portrayal

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Waited ages for this to come out & it didn’t disappoint!! Would love for Jaqueline Wilson to write more adult books from the characters we grew up with!

Really enjoyed this!

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I've seen others complain about the old fashioned ways the characters still speak in but that's what keeps the book feeling like a Jacqueline Wilson. Also some are saying they wanted more of the other characters, but again a Jacqueline Wilson book focuses on a young girl facing real world problems and this book continues to do that.

It is a bit strange hearing sex scenes written by your childhood favourite author but that's OK.

What I like about her characters are that they aren't perfect, they make mistakes or even do bad things on purpose because they are human.

lovely

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