Alternately titled The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight, Double is the fourth novel published by British children's/YA novelist Jenny Valentine. Valentine is a previous winner of the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction for her 2007 debut novel, Finding Violet Park, which was retitled Me, the Missing and the Dead for release in the US in 2008. Double is also the Valentine's fourth novel to be nominated for the Carnegie Medal, a British literary award that recognizes one excellent new children's or young adult novel annually.
Double is set in Valentine's own home town, Hay-on-Wye, a small community in the county of Brecknockshire in Wales. Additionally, Hay on Fire, a celebration of great importance to the novel, is a real festival that takes place in Hay-on-Wye.
In an interview for Kirkus, Valentine stated that her inspiration for writing Double was threefold: she wanted to write a modern take on "a classic identity thriller" from the 1950's called Brat Farrar. She was also intrigued by the story of a real-life French-Moroccan criminal called The Chameleon who impersonated underprivileged teenage boys and then, unintentionally on his part, was taken in by an American family who thought he was their long-lost son. Finally, Valentine herself also has a double (twin), to whom she dedicated this novel.
Double considers the issues of identity and ethics in the place of a young man living a life that isn't quite his own, and it does so in the gripping fashion of YA thrillers.
