Miranda Carter Explained

Miranda Carter
Education:	St Paul's Girls' School
Alma Mater:	Exeter College, Oxford University
Nationality:	British
Language:	English
Pseudonym:	MJ Carter
Spouse:	John Lanchester
Children:	2

Miranda Carter (born 1965) is an English historian, writer and biographer, who also publishes fiction under the name MJ Carter.^{[1] [2]}

Education

Carter was educated at St Paul's Girls School and Exeter College, Oxford.^[3]

Career

Carter's first book was a biography of the art historian and spy Anthony Blunt, entitled Anthony Blunt: His Lives. It won the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Orwell Prize and was short-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction, the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread Prize for Best Biography, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In the US it was chosen by the New York Times Book Review as one of seven best books selected by the Times' editors for 2002. Noted the editors, "It's an unusual achievement: Miranda Carter's biography of Anthony Blunt is more interesting than the man."^[4]

Her second historical undertaking was The Three Emperors, which was a group biography of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II and King George V, all world leaders during the First World War.^[5]

Carter also has written several novels, notably The Strangler Vine and its sequel The Infidel Stain, which was later republished as The Printer's Coffin. Her third mystery is entitled The Devil's Feast. All three are Victorian detective and mystery stories.^[2]

Personal life

Carter is married to John Lanchester, with whom she has two children, and lives in London.^[6]

Accolades

• 2010: Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Biography), The Three Emperors: Three Cousins, Three Empires and the Road to World War One, shortlist
• 2002: Whitbread Biography Award, Anthony Blunt: His Lives, shortlist^[7]
• 2002: The Royal Society of Literature Award, Anthony Blunt: His Lives
• 2002: Orwell Prize, Anthony Blunt: His Lives
• 2002: James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for biography), Anthony Blunt: His Lives, shortlist
• 2002: Duff Cooper Prize, Anthony Blunt: His Lives, shortlist
• 2002: Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger for Non-Fiction, Anthony Blunt: His Lives, shortlist^[8]
• 2001: Guardian First Book Award, Anthony Blunt: His Lives, shortlist^[9]

Bibliography

Non-fiction

• Anthony Blunt: His Lives. London: Macmillan. 2001.
• The Three Emperors: Three Cousins, Three Empires and the Road to World War One. London: Penguin. 2009.

Avery & Blake Series

• The Strangler Vine. London: Fig Tree. 2014.
• The Infidel Stain [or] The Printer's Coffin. London: Fig Tree. 2015.
• The Devil's Feast. London: Fig Tree. 2016.

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. News: MJ Carter on historical fiction: 'It was brilliant to make stuff up!'. Stephanie . Merritt. The Guardian. 26 January 2014.
2. News: Jake. Kerridge. The Infidel Stain by MJ Carter, review: 'subtle'. The Telegraph. 23 April 2015.
3. Web site: Miranda Carter. dead. British Council (Literature). 2015-02-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20150210165348/http://literature.britishcouncil.org/miranda-carter. 2015-02-10.
4. News: Editors' Choice . 25 February 2023 . . 8 December 2002.
5. Book: Carter . Miranda . The Three Emperors . 2010 . Penguin.
6. News: What his mother never told him John Lanchester tells Marianne Macdonald about his family secrets. Marianne. Macdonald. The Telegraph. 18 March 2007.
7. Web site: Couple battle for Whitbread prize. BBC News. 14 November 2002. 3 June 2024.
8. Web site: ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction 2002 Shortlisted Miranda Carter: Anthony Blunt, His Lives. The Crime Writers’ Association. 3 June 2024.
9. News: Guardian first book award: all the winners. The Guardian. 7 April 2016.