Helen Dunmore Popular Books

Helen Dunmore Biography & Facts

Helen Dunmore FRSL (12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer. Her best known works include the novels Zennor in Darkness, A Spell of Winter and The Siege, and her last book of poetry Inside the Wave. She won the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction, the National Poetry Competition, and posthumously the Costa Book Award. Biography Dunmore was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1952, the second of four children of Betty (née Smith) and Maurice Dunmore. She attended Sutton High School, London and Nottingham Girls' High School, then direct grant grammar schools. She studied English at the University of York, and lived in Finland for two years (1973–75) and worked as a teacher. She lived after that in Bristol. Dunmore was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL). Some of Dunmore's children's books are included in reading schemes for use in schools. In March 2017, she published her last novel, Birdcage Walk, as well as an article about mortality for The Guardian written after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She died on 5 June 2017. Her final poetry collection Inside the Wave, published in April 2017 shortly before her death, posthumously won the Poetry and overall Book of the Year awards in the 2017 Costa Book Awards. Personal life Dunmore's husband Frank Charnley, whom she married in 1980, is a lawyer. Dunmore had a son, daughter and stepson, and three grandchildren at the time of her death. Awards and honours 1987: Poetry Book Society Choice, The Raw Garden 1994: McKitterick Prize, Zennor in Darkness 1996: Orange Prize (inaugural winner), A Spell of Winter 1990: Cardiff International Poetry Prize 1997: T. S. Eliot Prize, shortlist, Bestiary 2010: Man Booker Prize, longlist, The Betrayal 2010: National Poetry Competition winner, "The Malarkey" 2015: Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, The Lie 2017 (posthumously): Costa Book Awards Poetry and Book of the Year Awards, Inside the Wave Bibliography Novels Zennor in Darkness (1993, McKitterick Prize 1994) Burning Bright (1994) A Spell of Winter (1995, Orange Prize 1996) Talking to the Dead (1996) Your Blue-Eyed Boy (1998) With your Crooked Heart (1999) The Siege (2001, shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and the Orange Prize 2002) Mourning Ruby (2003) House of Orphans (2006) Counting the Stars (2008) The Betrayal (2010, longlisted for the Man Booker prize) The Greatcoat (2012) (ISBN 978-0-09-956493-5) The Lie (2014) Exposure (2016) (ISBN 978-0-09-195394-2) An "Exclusive edition for independent bookshops" (ISBN 978-1-78633-000-0) includes a 14-page essay "On Reading" Birdcage Walk (2017, longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2018) Short story collections Love of Fat Men (1997) Ice Cream (2000) Rose, 1944 (2005) Girl, Balancing and Other Stories (2018) Young adult books Zillah and Me! The Lilac Tree (first published as Zillah and Me) (2004) The Seal Cove (first published as The Zillah Rebellion) (2004) The Silver Bead (2004) The Ingo Chronicles Ingo (2005) The Tide Knot (2006) The Deep (2007) The Crossing of Ingo (2008) Stormswept (2012) Children's books Going to Egypt (1992) In the Money (1995) Go Fox (1996) Fatal Error (1996) Amina's Blanket (1996) Allie's Apples (1997) Bestiary (1997) Clyde's Leopard (1998) Great-Grandma's Dancing Dress (1998) Brother Brother, Sister Sister (1999) Allie's Rabbit (1999) Allie's Away (2000) Aliens Don't Eat Bacon Sandwiches (2000) The Ugly Duckling (2001) Tara's Tree House (2003) The Ferry Birds (2010) The Islanders (2011) The Lonely Sea Dragon (2013) Poetry collections The Apple Fall (Bloodaxe Books, 1983) The Sea Skater (Bloodaxe Books, 1986) The Raw Garden (Bloodaxe Books, 1988) Short Days, Long Nights: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 1991) Recovering a Body (Bloodaxe Books, 1994) Secrets (The Bodley Head, 1994) [children's poetry title] Bestiary (Bloodaxe Books, 1997) Out of the Blue: Poems 1975–2001 (Bloodaxe Books, 2001) Snollygoster and Other Poems (Scholastic Press, 2001) [children's poetry title] Glad of these times (Bloodaxe Books, 2007) The Malarkey (Bloodaxe Books, 2012) Inside the Wave (Bloodaxe Books, 2017) References External links Helen Dunmore at British Council: Literature HarperCollins Canada site Dunmore reads six poems, including "Wild strawberries" on YouTube Ingo by Helen Dunmore on YouTube. Discover the Helen Dunmore popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Helen Dunmore books.

Best Seller Helen Dunmore Books of 2024

  • An Act of Treachery synopsis, comments

    An Act of Treachery

    Ann Widdecombe

    'A tale of illicit love, hate and loss in occupied France . . . confirming [Ann Widdecombe] as an eloquent storyteller' GLASGOW HERALDCatherine Dessin, a young French girl living i...

  • The Crossing Of Ingo synopsis, comments

    The Crossing Of Ingo

    Helen Dunmore

    The crossing of Ingo is an ancient and dangerous comingofage ritual: a journey to the bottom of the world. Sapphy and Conor have been called to take part, the first of human blood ...

  • A Tale of a Tub synopsis, comments

    A Tale of a Tub

    Jonathan Swift

    Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They ...

  • The Penguin Book of Victorian Verse synopsis, comments

    The Penguin Book of Victorian Verse

    Daniel Karlin

    Daniel Karlin has selected poetry written and published during the reign of Queen Victoria, (18371901). Giving pride of place to Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Christina Rossetti, ...

  • The Spoils of Poynton synopsis, comments

    The Spoils of Poynton

    Henry James & David Lodge

    Mrs Gereth is convinced that Fleda Vetch would make the perfect daughterinlaw. Only the dreamy, highlystrung young woman can genuinely appreciate, and perhaps eventually share, Mrs...

  • Selected Works synopsis, comments

    Selected Works

    Earl Of Rochester & Frank H. Ellis

    The brightest star at the court of King Charles II, John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (164780), lived a life of reckless debauchery and sexual adventuring that led to his death at the...

  • Inishowen synopsis, comments

    Inishowen

    Joseph O'Connor

    From the bestselling author of Star of the Sea and Shadowplay, 'a powerful, moving adventure of raw fate and betrayed love' (Independent on Sunday).Inspector Martin Aitken's life i...

  • Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings synopsis, comments

    Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings

    A.S. Byatt & George Eliot

    The works collected in this volume provide an illuminating introduction to George Eliot's incisive views on religion, art and science, and the nature and purpose of fiction. Essays...

  • On Tangled Paths synopsis, comments

    On Tangled Paths

    Theodor Fontane & Peter James Bowman

    A moving love story and a vivid depiction of Berlin in the 1870s, from Germany's greatest nineteenthcentury novelist Theodor Fontane.Lene is a beautiful, orphaned young seamstress,...

  • Shadow Hunter synopsis, comments

    Shadow Hunter

    Geoffrey Archer

    One renegade captain threatens disasterHMS Truculent is a nuclearpowered, hunterkiller submarine, and one of the most deadly weapon systems in the world. Phil Hitchens is its disti...

  • In Flanders Fields synopsis, comments

    In Flanders Fields

    Trevor Royle

    This anthology is the first ever acknowledgement of Scotland's unique contribution to the literature of the First World War. Here are gathered together wellknown writers like J...

  • A Wreath Of Roses synopsis, comments

    A Wreath Of Roses

    Elizabeth Taylor & Helen Dunmore

    INTRODUCED BY HELEN DUNMOREElizabeth Taylor's darkest novel . . . She writes with a sensuous richness of language that draws the reader down the most shadowy paths . . . Extremely ...

  • The Shooting Party synopsis, comments

    The Shooting Party

    Anton Chekhov & Ronald Wilks

    When a young woman dies during a shooting party at the country estate of a dissolute count, a magistrate is called upon to investigate. The mystery deepens and suspicion falls mo...

  • Greyfriars House synopsis, comments

    Greyfriars House

    Emma Fraser

    Secrets will be uncovered . . .'I was absolutely gripped . . . the atmospheric setting of Greyfriars intertwined with the grim reality of the war camps of Singapore was inspiration...

  • The Law Machine synopsis, comments

    The Law Machine

    Clare Dyer & Marcel Berlins

    The authors explain and discuss how the justice system evolved, the way it operates including vivid descriptions of the trial process and how lawyers work. Revised and updated th...

  • Raising Sparks synopsis, comments

    Raising Sparks

    Michael Symmons Roberts

    After his first collection SOFT KEYS Michael Symmons Roberts was hailed by Les Murray as 'a poet for the new, chastened, unenforcing age of faith that has just dawned'. T...

  • Abroad synopsis, comments

    Abroad

    Penelope Lively

    A brilliantly funny original short story from Booker Prize winning author Penelope Lively.'Anyone artistic needed Abroad in the 1950s.'Paul and his girlfriend are artists in need o...

  • Domestic Manners of the Americans synopsis, comments

    Domestic Manners of the Americans

    Fanny Trollope

    When Fanny Trollope set sail for America in 1827 with hopes of joining a Utopian community of emancipated slaves, she took with her three of her children and a young French artist,...

  • Stormswept synopsis, comments

    Stormswept

    Helen Dunmore

    In this companion novel to the Ingo series, myth and reality collide when Morveren, a young girl from a Cornish island, discovers a Mer boy, Malin, halfburied in the sand dunes. Ne...

  • The Stornoway Way synopsis, comments

    The Stornoway Way

    Kevin Macneil

    ‘Fk everyone from Holden Caulfield to Bridget Jones, fk all the American and English phoney fictions that claim to speak for us; they don’t know the likes of us exist and they neve...

  • The Works of the Gawain Poet synopsis, comments

    The Works of the Gawain Poet

    Ad Putter & Myra Stokes

    A new volume of the works of the Gawain poet, destined to become the definitive edition for students and scholars.This volume brings together four works of the unknown fourteenthce...

  • A Passion For Trees synopsis, comments

    A Passion For Trees

    Maggie Campbell-Culver

    Given the extent of his influence on 17thcentury life, and his lasting impact on the British landscape it is remarkable that no book has been written before about John Evelyn. He w...

  • The Cloud Garden synopsis, comments

    The Cloud Garden

    Paul Winder & Tom Hart Dyke

    The Darién Gap is a place of legend. The only break in the PanAmerican highway, which runs from Alaska to the tip of South America, it is an almost impregnable strip of swamp, jung...

  • HellFire synopsis, comments

    HellFire

    Mia Gallagher

    On a midsummer’s evening a young Dublin woman, Lucy Dolan, prepares for a showdown that will help make sense of a heartbreaking and brutal atrocity that happened thirteen years ear...

  • From Borroloola to Mangerton Mountain synopsis, comments

    From Borroloola to Mangerton Mountain

    Micheal O'Muircheartaigh

    Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh is best known as the voice of the GAA. But his interests and enthusiasms – sporting and nonsporting – go far beyond the fields of Gaelic games. In his new ...

  • The Visitors synopsis, comments

    The Visitors

    Caroline Scott

    From the highly acclaimed author of The Photographer of the Lost, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick, comes a tale of a young war widow and one lifechanging, sundrenched visit to Co...

  • The Lucifer Network synopsis, comments

    The Lucifer Network

    Geoffrey Archer

    TERROR KNOWS NO FRONTIERSA deadly secret whispered by a dying gunrunner on a lonely roadin Zambia sets MI6 agent Sam Packer on a frantic race against time. A terrorist gang has acq...

  • The Chameleon Poet synopsis, comments

    The Chameleon Poet

    Robert Fraser

    The poet George Barker was convinced that his biography could never be written. 'I've stirred the facts around too much,' he told Robert Fraser. 'It simply can't be done.' Eliot w...

  • John Keats synopsis, comments

    John Keats

    John Keats & John Barnard

    Keats is one of the major figures in the second generation of Romantic Poets and was considered by Tennyson to be the greatest poet of the nineteenth century. The preoccupying the...

  • Effi Briest synopsis, comments

    Effi Briest

    Theodor Fontane & Hugh Rorrison

    Unworldly young Effi Briest is married off to Baron von Innstetten, an austere and ambitious civil servant twice her age, who has little time for his new wife. Isolated and bored, ...

  • The Shorter Poems synopsis, comments

    The Shorter Poems

    Edmund Spenser & Richard McCabe

    Although he is most famous for The Faerie Queene, this volume demonstrates that for these poems alone Spenser should still be ranked as one of England's foremost poets.Spenser's sh...

  • Under a Pole Star synopsis, comments

    Under a Pole Star

    Stef Penney

    RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB 2017. SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 COSTA NOVEL AWARD.'A novel of huge scope with a tremendous sense of period and place' Costa judges'A dazzling tale of ro...

  • The Soul Of Kindness synopsis, comments

    The Soul Of Kindness

    Elizabeth Taylor & Philip Hensher

    INTRODUCED BY PHILIP HENSHER'Elizabeth Taylor is finally being recognised as an important British author: an author of great subtlety, great compassion and great depth. As a reader...

  • Scorpion Trail synopsis, comments

    Scorpion Trail

    Geoffrey Archer

    Alex Crawford has been out of MI5 and the combat zone for twenty years, but now fate has thrust him back into the front line.Though he is an aid worker, the secret service minders ...

  • Not The Whole Story synopsis, comments

    Not The Whole Story

    Angela Huth

    'A delightful memoir' Kate Saunders, The Times'Fabulous . . . dazzling' Tatler'Enchanting . . . movingly lyrical' Ysenda Maxtone Graham, Country LifeThis short volume has turned ou...

  • Hello Again synopsis, comments

    Hello Again

    Simon Elmes

    It’s now ninety years since the BBC made its first broadcast and the British love affair with radio began.This book is a journey through that fascinating history and a celebration ...

  • The Key In The Lock synopsis, comments

    The Key In The Lock

    Beth Underdown

    'Haunting, vivid and urgent' Stacey Halls'Absorbing, beautifully written' Rosie Andrews'An ingenious page turner' The TimesInside lies a secret that won't stay hidden . . . The Gre...

  • Kipps synopsis, comments

    Kipps

    H.G. Wells & Professor Simon James

    Orphaned at an early age, raised by his aunt and uncle, and apprenticed for seven years to a draper, Artie Kipps is stunned to discover upon reading a newspaper advertisement that ...

  • Back to Methuselah synopsis, comments

    Back to Methuselah

    George Bernard Shaw

    Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) is a 1921 series of five plays and a preface by George Bernard Shaw. The five plays are:In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden ...

  • The Mango Orchard synopsis, comments

    The Mango Orchard

    Robin Bayley

    As a child, Robin Bayley was enchanted by his grandmother's stories of Mexican adventures: of bandits, wild jungle journeys, hidden bags of silver and a narrow escape from the bloo...

  • Java Spider synopsis, comments

    Java Spider

    Geoffrey Archer

    A British minister is a pawn in a deadly game played out in one of the world's most explosive countries Indonesia. His kidnapping does not fall under British jurisdiction and ...

  • The Enchanted April synopsis, comments

    The Enchanted April

    Elizabeth Von Arnim

    'This delicious confection will work its magic on all' Daily TelegraphThe discreet advertisement in The Times, addressed 'To Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine', offers a ...

  • Spirit Machines synopsis, comments

    Spirit Machines

    Robert Crawford

    SPIRIT MACHINES, Robert Crawford's fourth collection, attends imaginatively to the fusion of spiritual experience and the insistently material world. In several of the poems, e...

  • Demolition synopsis, comments

    Demolition

    Neil Rollinson

    With the frank, subversive, and very funny poems in his first two books, Neil Rollinson established himself as a deft cartographer of the sensual world. While a rich and tactile er...

  • The Long, Long Trail synopsis, comments

    The Long, Long Trail

    Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

    In 1917 the Great War rages on, and for the Hunters, their friends and their servants the war is where they live now.David has returned from the Front a shadow of his former self;...

  • Poems of Thomas Hardy synopsis, comments

    Poems of Thomas Hardy

    Claire Tomalin & Thomas Hardy

    Thomas Hardy wrote some of the most moving and personal poems in his era and this collection brings together the best of his verse on life and love.Hardy's poems are by turn haunti...

  • Pierre and Jean synopsis, comments

    Pierre and Jean

    Guy de Maupassant

    The fraternal love that Pierre Roland feels for his younger brother Jean has always been tinged with jealousy. But when a lawyer arrives at the house of their parents, to declare t...