Michelle Paver (born 7 September 1960) is a British novelist and children's writer, known for the

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...

series ''

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness ''Chronicles of Ancient Darkness'' is a series of historical fantasy novels by the British people, British author Michelle Paver; her first books for children. The books chronicle the adventures of Torak, an adolescent boy, and his friends Renn ...

'', set in

prehistoric Europe Prehistoric Europe is Europe with human presence but before the start of recorded history, beginning in the Lower Paleolithic. As history progresses, considerable regional irregularities of cultural development emerge and increase. The region o ...

. For the sixth book of the series, '' Ghost Hunter'' (2009) she won the

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

, a book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.

Biography

Michelle Paver was born in

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...

(now

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

) in central Africa. Her mother was Belgian (

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

) 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 Wimbledon High School is an independent girls' day school in Wimbledon, South West London. It is a Girls' Day School Trust school and is a member of the Girls' Schools Association. History Wimbledon High School was founded by the Girls' Publ ...

. After reading

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

at Lady Margaret Hall,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, 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. Her 2010 ghost novel ''

Dark Matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not a ...

'' was nominated for a

Shirley Jackson Award The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and the dark fantastic are presented a ...

for best novel.

''Chronicles of Ancient Darkness''

The ''

'' 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

during the

New Stone Age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

. The first of the series, ''

Wolf Brother ''Wolf Brother'' is the first book in the series ''Chronicles of Ancient Darkness'' by Michelle Paver. ''Wolf Brother'' takes place six thousand years ago during the Middle Stone Age, and tells the story of twelve-year-old Torak, a boy who c ...

'' was published in 2004 and as a whole the books have sold over 1 million copies in the UK. Paver was paid a reported £2.8 million advance for the first book.

''Gods and Warriors''

Michelle Paver's second series ''Gods and Warriors'' is set during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. It tells the story of Hylas, a 12-year-old goatherd, whose adventures take him to

Ancient Crete The history of Crete goes back to the 7th millennium BC, preceding the ancient Minoan civilization by more than four millennia. The palace-based Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe. After the Minoan civilization was devasta ...

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 third book onwards.

Books

''Daughters of Eden'' trilogy

# ''The Shadow Catcher'' (2002) # ''Fever Hill'' (2004) # ''The Serpent's Tooth'' (2005)

''Chronicles of Ancient Darkness'' series

# ''

'' (2004) # '' Spirit Walker'' (2005) # '' Soul Eater'' (2006) # '' Outcast'' (2007) # '' Oath Breaker'' (2008) # '' Ghost Hunter'' (2009) # '' Viper's Daughter'' (2020) # '' Skin Taker'' (2021) # ''Wolfbane'' (2022)

''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) *''

'' (2010) *''Thin Air'' (2016) *''Wakenhyrst'' (2019)

References

External links

* * *
The Clan
fan website with participation by Paver {{DEFAULTSORT:Paver, Michelle 1960 births Living people 21st-century British women writers Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford British children's writers British women children's writers Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners Malawian writers People educated at Wimbledon High School British people of Flemish descent British people of South African descent British historical novelists British women novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers British fantasy writers British horror writers Women horror writers Malawian women writers