A short life of the author
Dame Penelope Margaret Lively (b. 17 March 1933) was born in Cairo, Egypt, and moved to England at the age of twelve. She studied modern history at St Anne’s College, Oxford. She began her career writing children’s fiction before turning to adult novels.
Life and Career
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (1973, Carnegie Medal) established her as a leading children’s writer. Her transition to adult fiction produced The Road to Lichfield (1977, Booker shortlist) and Moon Tiger (1987), which won the Booker Prize.
Moon Tiger — narrated by Claudia Hampton, a dying historian who recalls her life and a wartime love affair in Egypt — is a formally inventive novel about memory, narrative, and the relationship between personal and public history. It confirmed Lively as one of the most intellectually sophisticated British novelists of her generation.
Major Works and Themes
Lively writes about the relationship between past and present — about how memory shapes identity, how historical events persist in landscapes and buildings, and how the stories we tell about the past are always partial and unreliable.
Key Works
- Moon Tiger (1987) — Booker Prize
- The Road to Lichfield (1977) — Booker shortlist
- How It All Began (2011)
Collecting Lively
Astercote (1970, Heinemann) — the debut — brings $20–$60. Moon Tiger (1987, André Deutsch) — the Booker winner — brings $30–$100. Lively signs at literary events.