One of my faves from back then. I like how Anne Fine isn’t afraid to tackle relatively complex moral issues. It does mean that, for example, at the end when they

choose to not tell the pen pal that Laura is not, in fact, Lady Melody

it kind of rubs me the wrong way. Not that the pen pal really believed that… no way. That is a grown man; you can’t convince me he didn’t realise those letters were wayy over the top. 

But yeah, it’s a book I remember well from when I was younger because of how interesting and creative the plot was.