Michelle Paver

Michelle Paver (born 7 September 1960) is a British novelist and children's writer, known for the fantasy series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, set in pre-agricultural Stone Age Europe.[1] For the concluding book Ghost Hunter (2009) she won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.[2]

Michelle Paver
Born (1960-09-07) 7 September 1960
Nyasaland (now Malawi)
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
Alma materLady Margaret Hall, Oxford
GenreChildren's historical fantasy, horror
Notable worksChronicles of Ancient Darkness
Notable awardsGuardian Children's Fiction Prize
2010
Website
michellepaver.com

Biography

Michelle Paver was born in Nyasaland (now Malawi) in central Africa. Her mother was Belgian (Flemish) and her South African father ran a newspaper, the Nyasaland Times. Her family settled in Wimbledon, England when she was three. She was educated at The Study and Wimbledon High School. After reading biochemistry at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, where she attained a first-class degree, she became a partner in a City of London law firm.

Her father's death in 1996 prompted her to take a one-year sabbatical, during which she travelled around France and America and wrote her first book, Without Charity. She resigned from legal practice soon after her return, to concentrate on writing.[3] Her 2010 ghost novel Dark Matter was nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award for best novel.[4]

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness
Main article: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness tell the story of Torak, a twelve-year-old boy who is clanless, and his friends Renn and Wolf. The main story arc revolves around Torak and his quest to defeat the Soul Eaters, a group of evil clan mages who seek out to destroy all life in the forest in which they live. The books are set in prehistoric Europe during the New Stone Age.

The first of the series, Wolf Brother[5] was published in 2004 and as a whole the books have sold over 1 million copies in the UK.[6] Paver was paid a reported £2.8 million advance for the first book.[7]

Gods and Warriors

Michelle Paver's second series Gods and Warriors is set during the Bronze Age. It tells the story of Hylas, a 12-year-old goatherd, whose adventures take him to Ancient Crete and Ancient Egypt, and Pirra, the daughter of a high priestess with a crescent shaped scar on her cheek. The story crucially features animals in the plot – a lion, a falcon and a dolphin; the dolphin from the first book, the lion from the second book onwards and the falcon from the 3rd book onwards.

Books

Daughters of Eden trilogy
  • The Shadow Catcher (2002)
  • Fever Hill (2004)
  • The Serpent's Tooth (2005)

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series
Main article: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness

Gods and Warriors series
  • The Outsiders (2013)/Gods and Warriors (2012 – Only first print carries this name.)
  • The Burning Shadow (2013)
  • Eye of the Falcon (2014)
  • The Crocodile Tomb (2015)
  • Warrior Bronze (2016)

Stand-alone books
  • Without Charity (2000)
  • A Place in the Hills (2001)
  • Dark Matter (2010)
  • Thin Air (2016)
  • Wakenhyrst (2019)

References
  1. "An Interview With Michelle Paver". The New York Times. 15 July 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
  2. Page, Benedicte (8 October 2010). "Michelle Paver wins Guardian children's fiction prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  3. "From Africa to Wimbledon & Beyond…". Michelle Paver official website. Archived from the original on 12 July 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
  4. "2010 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners". Shirley Jackson Awards. July 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2015. Novel ... Finalists: Dark Matter, Michelle Paver (Orion) ...
  5. "An interview with Michelle Paver". Bookbrowse.com. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  6. Author's press release (8 August 2009). "Michelle Paver's Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Sells A Million Copies!". Booktrade.info. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  7. "Fantasy book gets record advance". 2 September 2004. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
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