| Michelle Paver | |
| Birth Date: | 7 September 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Blantyre, Nyasaland |
| Occupation: | Writer, lawyer |
| Alma Mater: | Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford |
| Nationality: | British |
| Period: | 2000–present |
| Genre: | Children's historical fantasy, horror |
| Notableworks: | Chronicles of Ancient Darkness |
Michelle Paver (born 7 September 1960) is a British novelist and children's writer, best known for her children's historical fantasy series Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, set in prehistoric Europe. Born in Malawi, she moved to England as a young child. Paver started her career as a lawyer, before becoming a full-time writer. She is also the author of the children's series Gods and Warriors, as well as novels for adults, including the Daughters of Eden trilogy and several standalone books.
Michelle Paver was born on 7 September 1960, in Blantyre, Nyasaland (now Malawi),[1] to a Belgian mother and South African father. Her father ran a newspaper, the Nyasaland Times. Her family moved to Wimbledon, England, in 1963. After reading biochemistry at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, where she attained a first-class degree, she became a solicitor, then after five years a partner, in a City of London law firm.[2]
Paver's father's death in 1996 prompted her to take a one-year sabbatical, during which she travelled around France and America and wrote the first draft of the book, Without Charity. She resigned from legal practice soon after her return, to concentrate on writing.
In 2000 she published Without Charity as her debut novel, followed by A Place in the Hills the following year. This was followed by the Daughters of Eden trilogy, published from 2002 to 2005.[3]
In 2004 she published Wolf Brother, the first book in her Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series and her first book for children. The book has sold more than 2.5 million copies and has been translated into 30 languages.[4] Paver was paid a reported £2.8 million advance for the first book.[5]
The series is set in prehistoric Northern Europe[6] and is made up of nine novels published from 2004 to 2022.[7] It tells 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. For the sixth book of the series, Ghost Hunter (2009), she won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.[8]
Paver's 2010 ghost novel Dark Matter was nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award for best novel.[9]
Paver's second children's 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 third book onwards.
See main article: Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.