reported by Tim Kaine, FictionFanatic.com

The Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, Oxford University Press and a US publisher are trying to find out how a manuscript of Geraldine McCaughrean's official sequel to JM Barrie's Peter Pan - Peter Pan in Scarlet - found its way into the hands of the New York Times.

The plot and new characters in Peter Pan in Scarlet (published simultaneously in 31 countries in 34 editions on October 5th 2006) are, and remain until publication day, a closely guarded secret. However, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Oxford University Press are today trying to find out how an article in the New York Times, published yesterday, revealed some details that only someone who had read the manuscript could know.

A joint statement from Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity and Oxford University Press reveals that they are curious to find out how the manuscript leaked out:

"Obviously we will be trying to find out, in conjunction with the US publisher of Peter Pan in Scarlet, how this has happened. However, as the published article only included a few new details, plus some inaccuracies, we do not feel that the secrecy around the manuscript has been compromised."

About the author:
Geraldine McCaughrean was born and educated in Enfield, North London, the third and youngest child of a fireman and a teacher. She trained as a teacher, worked for ten years in publishing, and in 1988 became a full-time writer.

Since then, Geraldine has written over 130 books and plays for both adults and children and has won the Carnegie Medal, Guardian Children's Fiction Award, Whitbread Children's Book of the Year (three times), Smarties Bronze (four times), UK Readers' Association Award, and wrote the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2000. In 2002, The Kite Rider and Stop the Train were both shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, with the latter being Highly Commended. Her most recent novel, The White Darkness, was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Children's Book Award.

Geraldine lives in Berkshire with her husband John and their daughter, Ailsa.