About Michelle
Michelle was born in Malawi, central Africa, to a Belgian mother and a South African father, who published the Nyasaland Times. Her family relocated to Wimbledon, England, when she was three.
Educated at Wimbledon High School, she went on to read biochemistry at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, where she attained a first-class degree.
After university, she became a partner in a City of London law firm, specializing in big-ticket litigation – drugs, tobacco and even disposable nappies! “In the end,” she says, “I couldn’t see the point of all that pressure, when I was only earning money that I’d never have the time or energy to enjoy.”
Her father’s death prompted her to take a one-year sabbatical, during which she traveled around France and America and wrote her first book, Without Charity. She resigned from legal practice soon after her return, to concentrate solely on writing.
Contact Us About Michelle Paver
Wakenhyrst
‘Irresistible storytelling - her finest novel yet’
The Times
A Haunting Gothic Masterpiece
Inspired by a series of real events: from Michelle’s sighting of a murmuration of starlings on a Suffolk marsh; to the discovery of a battered copy of The Book of Margery Kempe by a 15th Century mystic; to the story of the Wenhaston Doom, a medieval painting of the Last Judgement; to the real-life story of Richard Dadd, the Victorian murderer and artist; and dark secrets unearthed from Michelle’s maternal past; this is Michelle Paver’s most evocative and personal masterpiece to date.
Reviews
‘This dark, gothic tale with hook you in with its atmospheric setting of a house on the edge of the Suffolk fens, and its themes of superstition, witchcraft and religion’
The Sun
‘It’s a ghost story to put beside the classics of an earlier era – compelling’
London Evening Standard
‘What a story it is – Wakenhyrst is brilliant, spanning Fen devils, mystics and the lot of women in Edwardian England’
The Observer
A gripping ghost story – this is a brilliantly atmospheric read (be warned: it’s also terrifying!) with a brave, forward-thinking heroine I loved’
Good Housekeeping
Thin Air
‘Like Touching the Void rewritten by Jack London, Thin Air is a heart-freezing masterpiece’
The Guardian
‘Michelle Paver’s descriptions of Himalayan mountain-climbing are terrifyingly lifelike — the lashing winds, glittering ice: you can see it all.
Her depictions of its dangers are terrifyingly deathlike, too, and the growing menace of the high-altitude phantom is horrible.
Paver’s style is lively and clear, and the tale just rips along.
It’s scary, but in a reassuringly old-fashioned way.
No moral relativism here, but lots of action, great characters and a nice big mountainous metaphor rearing above it all. Just fantastic.’
Daily Mail
Reviews
‘Eerie, unsettling… gets under your skin’
Daily Express
‘Chilling in every sense!’
The Mail on Sunday
‘She has created an atmosphere so palpable it chills you to the bone’
The Observer
‘Looking for a proper ghost story? Thin Air is a creepy, compelling tale of a Himalayan climbing expedition, where strange events on the mountain stir dread and panic.’
Good Housekeeping
Dark Matter
‘A tale of terror and beauty and wonder’
Financial Times
January 1937.
Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life.
So when he’s offered the chance to be the wireless operator on an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year.
Gruhuken.
But the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. He faces a stark choice. Stay or go. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. Soon he will reach the point of no return – when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. And Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark.
Reviews
‘Paver is the mistress of suspense, and the strangeness that humans can suffer from when exposed to Arctic wilderness is brilliantly exploited in this period piece’
The Times
‘A spellbinding read – the kind of subtly unsettling, understated ghost story M.R. James might have written had he visited the Arctic’
The Guardian
‘A blood-curdling ghost story, evocative not just of icy northern wastes but of a mind turning in on itself’
Daily Mail
‘The ultimate test of a good ghost story is, surely, whether you feel panicked reading it in bed at midnight; two-thirds through, I found myself suddenly afraid to look out of the windows, so I’ll call it a success’
The Observer
Gods & Warriors
‘Gods and Warriors looks set to become another children's classic!’
Books for Keeps
From a time of myths and ancient magic comes the legend of the lost city of Atlantis, tales of gods and warriors – and the rise of a hero…
Reviews
‘A gloriously absorbing story of courage and mystery’
The Times
‘The reader’s attention is caught from the very first line… the book has a spellbinding storyline’
The Daily Telegraph
‘Paver’s immaculate research, control of pace, intricate plotting and fully formed characters build an excellent adventure… A guaranteed bestseller’
Daily Mail
‘Hats off to another rollicking adventure story with some sound educational side effects to boot’
The Independent
The Daughters of Eden Trilogy
‘Glorious, compulsive reading… it fair zings along. I loved it. Quite splendid!’
The Bookseller
THE DAUGHTERS OF EDEN TRILOGY comprises three full-length books – THE SHADOW CATCHER, FEVER HILL and THE SERPENT’S TOOTH.
A Place In The Hills
‘A bumper read that entwines mystery and history in equal enthralling measure.’
Choice Magazine
‘And now like Pegasus I ride the stars, I walk the spellbound moon. The horse of darkness treads the sky And I am with him…’
Antonia had become obsessed with a long-dead poet, Cassius. A soldier and lover, he had lived in the hills of Provence in Roman times where Antonia was now engaged in an archaeological dig. Her father was hoping to uncover a Roman villa, but Antonia had more romantic hopes – she longed to solve the riddle of Cassius, a secret contained in one of his poems. With her on the dig is Myles, her boyfriend from university days, and his fascinating friend Patrick –who also wants to uncover the mystery of Cassius’s riddle.
When they find an unimaginable treasure in a remote hillside cave Patrick and Antonia also discover an electric attraction between them. But tragedy strikes the dig, and Antonia and Patrick are parted. The treasure vanishes and it seems that the mystery will never be solved. Until many years later, when a wholly unexpected development means a new start.
Without Charity
“A magnificent, wonderfully evocative tale of family secrets and forbidden love…”
The Bookseller
‘And now like Pegasus I ride the stars, I walk the spellbound moon. The horse of darkness treads the sky And I am with him…’
Antonia had become obsessed with a long-dead poet, Cassius. A soldier and lover, he had lived in the hills of Provence in Roman times where Antonia was now engaged in an archaeological dig. Her father was hoping to uncover a Roman villa, but Antonia had more romantic hopes – she longed to solve the riddle of Cassius, a secret contained in one of his poems. With her on the dig is Myles, her boyfriend from university days, and his fascinating friend Patrick –who also wants to uncover the mystery of Cassius’s riddle.
When they find an unimaginable treasure in a remote hillside cave Patrick and Antonia also discover an electric attraction between them. But tragedy strikes the dig, and Antonia and Patrick are parted. The treasure vanishes and it seems that the mystery will never be solved. Until many years later, when a wholly unexpected development means a new start.
Wolf Brother
The Book That Started A Phenomenon:
Three Million Copies Sold In 35 Territories Worldwide
Six thousand years ago. Evil stalks the land. Only twelve-year-old Torak and his wolf-cub companion can defeat it. Their journey together takes them through deep forests, across giant glaciers, and into dangers they never imagined.
In this page-turning, original, and spectacularly told adventure story, Torak and Wolf are joined by an incredible cast of characters as they battle to save their world, in this first book in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series.
Reviews
‘The story grips you like a wolf's jaws and won't let go...’
The Times
‘The perfect concoction of action and narrative is what makes the book so attractive. …Paver has succeeded in producing a first-class story supported by substantial moral messages… unclouded by the present day.’
The Daily Telegraph
‘The story grips you like a wolf’s jaws and won’t let go…. [Paver’s] account of their spiritual beliefs suggests deep anthropological research but feels new-minted when described in her taut, elegant prose. Children, who are often very close to these animist beliefs, will find this imagined world as thrilling as Tolkien’s or Pullman’s…The climax is superb. With Wolf fighting demons by Torak’s side for another four books, wolves have never looked more like a boy’s best friend.’
The Times
‘With Ghost Hunter, Michelle Paver’s six-part series comes full circle. Torak, the boy orphaned in the first book, Wolf Brother, is drawn by a tantalising glimpse of the ghost of his adored father into the clutches of the most powerful of the Soul-Eaters, the Eagle Owl Mage. If this is all Greek to you, start at the beginning; I guarantee you won’t stop until you get to the end.’
The Independent
