Meet the author

Helena Duggan.

Writer · Ireland

Helena Duggan: creator of the creepy, bestselling Perfect trilogy — Dahl-meets-Tim-Burton adventures with genuinely unsettling premises and short, gulp-it-down chapters.

Helena Duggan is an Irish children's author, graphic designer and illustrator from Kilkenny, the medieval town that inspired her debut. She writes stories full of adventure because, by her own admission, she bores easily. Her first book, A Place Called Perfect (2017), grew from a pair of antique glasses she chanced upon in Australia, and became a Waterstones Book of the Month and Crimefest Children's Book of the Year. It opened the bestselling Perfect trilogy — followed by The Trouble with Perfect and The Battle for Perfect — a deliciously creepy sequence often likened to Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton, in which each instalment grows darker and more suspenseful. Duggan pairs genuinely unsettling premises with short, propulsive chapters and brave, ordinary heroes, making her a reliable bridge for readers moving towards eerie, high-stakes adventure.