My friend Nicky Singer, who has died aged 66 after a stroke, was a writer of fierce integrity and great perception.
She had published four novels for adults in the 1990s before turning to fiction for younger readers with Feather Boy (2002), whose plot was inspired by a derelict house in Hove, near her home in Brighton. Tackling the subject of bullying, the book was adapted into a Bafta award-winning BBC television series in 2004 and a youth musical at the National Theatre in 2006.
