Cathy Cassidy

Cathy Cassidy (born 1962) is an English author of fiction for children and teenagers, best known for the Chocolate Box Girls and Daizy Star series.

Born on 13 June 1962 in Coventry, she studied illustration in Liverpool at what is now Liverpool John Moores University. She worked as fiction editor on Jackie magazine, trained as an art teacher and taught at a Coventry secondary school before moving to Scotland with her husband, Liam. There she spent twelve years as agony aunt for the teen magazine Shout and taught art in primary schools.

Her first book, Dizzy, appeared in 2004, followed by titles such as Indigo Blue, Driftwood, Scarlett, Sundae Girl, Lucky Star and Gingersnaps. Scarlett won the Scottish Children's Book Award (12 to 16 category) in 2007, and in 2010 readers voted her the Book People Queen of Teen. Her younger readers' series Daizy Star carries her own illustrations, while the Chocolate Box Girls sequence for older readers includes Cherry Crush, Marshmallow Skye, Summer's Dream, Coco Caramel and Sweet Honey. Her later Lost and Found series ended with Forever Phoenix, launched in 2020. She has written more than thirty novels and lives on Merseyside.

For collectors

Her debut is Dizzy (2004). Scarlett (2006) won the Scottish Children's Book Award in 2007. The Chocolate Box Girls began with Cherry Crush (2010) and grew to twelve numbered titles, the main novels running from Cherry Crush to Sweet Honey (2014).