Casson Family Series

Book 2

Indigo's going back to school after a long bout of glandular fever. He's not looking forward to it, as he knows the bullies will be waiting for him. But he's determined to stand on his own two feet - so when Saffy and Sarah break up a fight in the boys' bathroom, he's furious. Until he meets Tom. Tom is over from the States for a term, staying with his gran while his family sort out their own problems back home. He loves music and joking and is unfazed by the bullies, slowly beginning to win the class round. He helps Indigo to challenge his fears, and in doing so is absorbed into the crazy Casson family and finds some answers of his own. Rose adores him and is determined to help him get the guitar he's been eyeing in the local music shop - but her attempts to help end in disaster, leaving only one way out: Daddy needs to come back from London to the home (and wife) he's been neglecting. Rose couldn't have an ulterior motive, could she?

Book 3

Permanent Rose

by Hilary McKay

Published 17 February 2005

It's a long hot summer - to Permanent Rose it seems never ending. Rose misses Tom, Indigo's friend who went back to America. New friend David is not a good enough replacement. Caddy's fiancee, Michael, tries to cheer her up by delivering a rose every day, but that just provides temporary relief. What with Daddy leaving her mother Eve for younger model Samantha, Caddy getting cold feet and adoptive sister Saffron deciding to find her real father, no one seems to have time to come to Rose's rescue. But Rose is determined, and in her heart of hearts is sure she will find Tom again - but what else will she find on the way?

Caddy Ever After

by Hilary McKay

Published 1 June 2006

The four eccentric Casson siblings each contribute written accounts of the events--which include a Valentine's Day dance, the appearance of a sinister balloon, and the breakdown of a car--that lead to Caddy's wedding day.

Caddy's World

by Hilary McKay

Published 5 May 2011

Twelve-year-old Caddy's world turns upside down when her father, Bill, temporarily becomes a stay at home "mom" and her best friends since kindergarten, Ali, Beth, and Ruby, begin to move in different directions.

Saffy's Angel

by Hilary McKay

Published 1 January 2001

Saffy's Angel was the winner of the 2002 Whitbread Award and is the first novel in Hilary McKay's hilarious Casson Family series.

After Saffron discovers that she's adopted, life is never quite the same. Her artistic parents and doting siblings adore her, but Saffy wants a piece of her past. So when her grandfather bequests her a stone angel – a relic from the childhood she never knew – Saffy knows she has to find it. Realizing that Siena holds the key, she stows away on a car trip to Italy.

The rest of the family are engaged in their own wacky projects: Caddy, a hopeless student, is revising for her A levels and desperately trying to pass her driving test. Indigo, the only boy in the Casson family, is determined to rid himself of his fear of heights. And the youngest, Rose, a budding artist, has a knack for baiting her pompous dad, with entertaining results . . .

Follow the family's adventures in the rest of the beloved series: Indigo's Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy Ever After, Forever Rose and Caddy's World.

Forever Rose

by Hilary McKay

Published 20 September 2007

Forever Rose is the fifth book in Hilary McKay's hilarious and award-winning Casson Family series.

It's tough being the youngest.

Rose comes home to a dark, quiet, empty house every day – her sisters and brother are always so busy. Indigo has his guitar lessons and paper round, Saffy is off with Sarah, and who knows where Caddy is since she disappeared with Michael's postcards.

School isn't any better. Exams are looming, and vindictive Mr Spencer has cancelled Christmas!

When will Rose get the happy ever after she has read about in books?

Follow the family's adventures in the rest of the beloved series: Saffy's Angel, Indigo's Star, Permanent Rose, Caddy Ever After and Caddy's World.

Rose's Blog

by Hilary McKay

Published 25 May 2015

From the winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2018.

It's tough being the youngest in the Casson family! It is nearly the end of Year 6, and Rose is preparing for Big School. With absent siblings, a perpetually-in-the-shed mother and finally-here-again-father, Rose's Blog reveals what happens to the Cassons - and Tom, of course.

Hilary McKay's Casson family was first brought to life in the Whitbread Award-winning Saffy's Angel. Fierce as a small tiger, Permanent Rose has her own way of seeing the world. After Forever Rose (the last of the books following the Casson family), the eponymous Rose continued to grow up. Hilary posted entries from a blog Rose was keeping on her website, chronicling the further adventures of the Cassons. They are available here as one collection for the first time.