No one is born evil. No one.
Nobody wants to be around Tulip, but Natalie finds her exciting. At first she doesn't care that other people are so upset by Tulip's bizarre games. But as the games become increasingly wild and sinister, Natalie realises that Tulip is going too far. Much too far.
Winner of the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year
Highly commended for the Carnegie Medal
"The Tulip Touch grapples with the topical question of what turns children into criminals. It engrossingly chronicles a childhood friendship with a disadvantaged girl who goes to the bad. This novel will make children aged between 11 and 14 think about the dangers of peer pressure and the collective responsibility of society for unhappy children. As always, Fine teaches her lessons by making her readers feel."
Nicolette Jones, The Sunday Times
"The peerless vigour of Fine's writing, and the provocative question of whether our society is even trying to catch its 'evil' ones as they fall, make this an extraordinary powerful novel.
"Tulip is the violent child about to crack, the child who echoes famous cases in our recent news. What elevates this subtle telling is that Fine manages to convey sympathetically the probable reasons why Tulip is the way she is."
Books for Keeps
"It's a brilliant book."
Ian Hislop
"Anne Fine uses simple prose to great effect. The language is usually more dramatic and economical than descriptive. Every sentence is precisely constructed to ensure clear meaning."
Ruth Coleman (in her introduction to the Longman (school) edition)
The Tulip Touch by Anne Fine is a novel for older children. It was published in 1996.
Available in the following editions (Click the link to buy the book from 
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