Michelle Paver

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Born in Nyasaland (now Malawi) to a Belgian mother and a father who ran the tiny 'Nyasaland Times', Michelle Paver moved to the UK when she was three. She grew up in Wimbledon and, following a Biochemistry Degree from Oxford, she became a partner in a City law firm.

Eventually, she gave up her career in law to follow her long-held dream of becoming a writer. Successfully published as an adult author of historical fiction, in 2003 Michelle began work on an idea for a series of six books that had been brewing ever since childhood. Set in prehistoric, hunter/gatherer times, in a world of dark enchantment, menace and superstition, the stories revolve around a boy – and his wolf companion – growing up, fighting for survival and unleashing a powerful magic. These became known as the highly successful 'Chronicles of Ancient Darkness.'

Author's Comment: As a child, my passions were myths, animals, and how people actually lived in the distant past. I read and re-read Roger Lancelyn Green's tales of the Norsemen and the Ancient Egyptians. I pored over pictures of Stone-Age hunters scraping hides and knapping flints. I bought a copy of Culpeper's Herbal, and dug up my parents' lawn to grow outlandish medicinal plants. And I read everything I could find on animal behaviour: especially about wolves. Wolf researchers such as David Mech, Michael Fox and Lois Crisler quickly became my heroes.

Nationality: British