Livi Michael

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Associate Agent : Olivia Martin

Books

Livi Michael has published four novels for adults: Under a Thin Moon which won the Arthur Welton award in 1992, Their Angel Reach which won the Faber prize in 1995, All the Dark Air (1997) which was short-listed for the Mind Award, and Inheritance, which won a Society of Authors award. Frank and the Black Hamster of Narkizher first novel for children, was short-listed for the 2003 Brandford Boase first novel award. Her subsequent title, The Whispering Road, won a Smarties Bronze Award and was chosen, in the US, by Borders for its Original Voices campaign. Her latest novel is Faerie Heart (Puffin 2009). Livi has also published two books for younger children with Orchard Books: 43 Bin Street and Seventeen Times As High As The Moon. Livi has two sons and lives in Greater Manchester. She teaches literature part-time at the Manchester Metropolitan University and has been a senior lecturer in creative writing at Sheffield Hallam University.

RESERVOIR - Salt Publishing, 2023

At the International Conference Centre in Geneva, Hannah Rossier, formerly Annie Price, comes face to face with Neville Weir, someone from her childhood whom she never expected, or wanted, to meet again. As Neville's reasons for attending the conference become clear, the dark waters of Hannah's past start to rise. Hannah is a psychotherapist, with a specialist interest in memory and how connections are made between past and present. She has reinvented herself successfully, moving from a small northern town in England to Lucerne, Switzerland, with her husband, Thibaut.

Nobody, not even Hannah, knows the full truth about herself. Her 'memories' consist of glimpses of the place where she played in childhood, known simply as 'The Wild.' Over the three days of the conference she has to decide whether she can avoid Neville, or whether she should submit to an encounter with him and with her past. And in her keynote lecture about the neuroscience of memory, how much to conceal or reveal. But can her specialism save her from drowning?

 

REBELLION - Fig Tree / Penguin, 2015 

In exile in France with ther young son Prince Edward, Margaret of Anjou at last gives up on promises of aid by King Louis and sets sail for England. There she will return her husband Henry to the throne - and ensure young Edward will be its heir. Meanwhile, Margaret Beaufort, separated form her son Henry of Richmond when he was an infant, see the unrest surrounding the Lancastrian defeat as her chance to finally get him back. But the steps she takes to return her son imperil the kingdom and the throne's current occupant - King Edward IV. With Rebellion tearing the country apart, how far will each woman go to further the interests of their sons. And who can stand in their way?

 

Fiction

Publication DetailsNotes

RESERVOIR

2023

Salt Publishing

At the International Conference Centre in Geneva, Hannah Rossier, formerly Annie Price, comes face to face with Neville Weir, someone from her childhood whom she never expected, or wanted, to meet again. As Neville’s reasons for attending the conference become clear, the dark waters of Hannah’s past start to rise. Hannah is a psychotherapist, with a specialist interest in memory and how connections are made between past and present. She has reinvented herself successfully, moving from a small northern town in England to Lucerne, Switzerland, with her husband, Thibaut.

Nobody, not even Hannah, knows the full truth about herself. Her ‘memories’ consist of glimpses of the place where she played in childhood, known simply as ‘The Wild’. Over the three days of the conference she has to decide whether she can avoid Neville, or whether she should submit to an encounter with him and with her past. And in her keynote lecture about the neuroscience of memory, how much to conceal or reveal. But can her specialism save her from drowning?

ACCESSION

2016

Fig Tree / Penguin

The concluding part to the trilogy sees the tragic demise of Alice Chancer, Margaret of Anjou and Edward IV's mistress Jane Shore and the seizing of the throne by Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch.

2015

Fig Tree / Penguin

In exile in France with ther young son Prince Edward, Margaret of Anjou at last gives up on promises of aid by King Louis and sets sail for England. There she will return her husband Henry to the throne - and ensure young Edward will be its heir. Meanwhile, Margaret Beaufort, separated form her son Henry of Richmond when he was an infant, see the unrest surrounding the Lancastrian defeat as her chance to finally get him back. But the steps she takes to return her son imperil the kingdom and the throne's current occupant - King Edward IV. With Rebellion tearing the country apart, how far will each woman go to further the interests of their sons. And who can stand in their way?

2014

Fig Tree / Penguin

Margaret of Anjou, beautiful, unpopular, her marriage to a young Henry VI causes national uproar. English rule in France collapses, Henry goes insane, civil war erupts. Margaret Beaufort nobly born but distant from the throne is lonely and vulnearable. By the age of 13 she has been married twice and given birth to her only son- the future King of England. But then she is separated from him and her fight really begins.

2000

Penguin, Viking

Louise Kenworthy's only bequest from her mother is a photograph album in which she finds the face of another woman - strangely like her own - which seems to have been excised from the family tree. Who is she, and what relevance could her life have for Louise?

1997

Secker and Warburg

Julie has always loved Mick, despite his lack of interest. After school she loses track of him, only to find him again. Mick's journey has been through unemployment and homelessness, Julie's through loss and a growing fascination for "Mind Power". To carry on, drastic measures are required.

THEIR ANGEL REACH

1994

Secker and Warburg

This novel, in five parts, traces the sexual and social connections between its main characters. These are women from a single Lancashire village, seeking to recover against the odds, some sense of being and purpose in lives dominated by poverty, violence and fantasy.

Winner of the Geoffrey Faber Prize for Fiction 1995
Shortlisted: John Steinbeck Prize 1995; John Llewellyn
Rhys/Daily Mail Prize 1995

UNDER A THIN MOON

1992

Secker and Warburg

Winner of the Society of Authors; Arthur Welton Scholarship

Children's

Publication DetailsNotes
2012

Foxtail

2009

Puffin

Blue Peter Best Summer Read

2008

Puffin

Short listed for East Sussex Children’s Book awards, Lancashire Book Awards

2006

Puffin

2006

Orchard Books

2005

Orchard

2005

Puffin

Shortlisted for the Ottaker’s Book Award and the Nestle Smarties Prize. Borders (USA) book of the Month for June 2005; Sheffield Book Award; Salford Book Award; Stockton on Tees Book of the Year 2006;

2005

Puffin

2004

Puffin

2003

Puffin

2002

Puffin