Henrietta Bond is an author and journalist who believes passionately in the rights of children and young people in care. She is the author of Control Freak and its sequel Losing Control. Henrietta lives in Yorkshire with her husband, two cats, a hamster and a lot of sheep.
Picture of Henrietta Bond
For more on the Control Freak series visit our Control Freak site >>

Picture of the Control Freak book coverCONTROL FREAK

‘A sincere, simply told, ultra-convincing story that shows what it’s like to branch out on your own after a childhood in care,’
Jacqueline Wilson (author of the Tracy Beaker stories)

How do you hold it together when you're leaving care, falling in love and your little brother has gone missing? Losing Control is the first novel in the series about Holly Richards and her younger brother, Ryan.

Cover of Losing Control by Henrietta BondLOSING CONTROL

PUBLISHED MARCH 2012

After leaving care Holly Richards just wants to concentrate on being a student. So why do all the men she knows want to make her life so complicated? Whether it’s brother Ryan, threatened by Facebook bullies, a ‘rock star’ boyfriend who is attracting way too much interest from the girls, an employer who thinks anyone in care is a criminal or Spider Boy, who fascinated Holly as much as he repels her, there’s hassle all around her. No wonder Holly starts to feel her life is spiralling out of control!

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Finally – Losing Control is finished!

It should’ve been published a few months back but the problem with telling a story in a diary format is that every time you make some little adjustment there’s a real risk that things start to slip out of order, and an awful lot can go wrong. And that’s just what happened! The amazing Miranda Davies, editor of Losing Control, stayed very calm when she found that Henrietta even had some of the dates in the novel going backwards. (Not to mention that poor Lucy had her birthday in the wrong month). It meant long hours reading and re-reading for everyone concerned – and quite a bit of re-writing by Henrietta, to make sure that everything flowed smoothly. So hopefully it’s all absolutely fine now. But if you do spot something we’ve missed, then let us know – and we’ll send you a free copy of Control Freak or Losing Control.

[NEWS] Coming in early 2012 – Losing Control, the sequel to Control Freak

Wondered what happened to Holly when she got to art college? And what became of her relationship with former boyfriend Sean? And how does Ryan cope in his new foster family.

[HENRIETTA'S THOUGHTS] 2nd Annual Leaving Care Conference

I was very lucky to be invited to the excellent 2nd Annual Leaving Care Conference on 28th October. Among many other highlights was the opportunity to put a copy of Control Freak into the hands of children's minister, Tim Loughton – and ask him to read it.