Michel Faber

(born April 1960 - ) - Inverness

Michel Faber at the BooksfromScotland.com Launch Party

Although born in The Hague in The Netherlands, and having lived in Australia since he was seven, Michel Faber has lived in Scotland since 1993 and is generally considered to be a Scottish author. He retains a Dutch passport, having rejected pleas to become a British citizen.

Faber studied Dutch, Philosophy, Rhetoric, English Language and Literature at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 1980. He later trained as a nurse. He has been writing since he was 14, but did not win success with his short stories until the 1990s. His first book, the short story collection, Some Rain Must Fall, was published in 1998. His first novel, Under the Skin, was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel award, although early drafts of The Crimson Petal and the White predate this by nearly 20 years. Faber's novels span time and space and cannot easily be categorised: from the Scottish Highlands of Under the Skin to the depths of Victorian London in his bestseller The Crimson Petal and the White, and most recently to contemporary Iraq in The Fire Gospel, part of Canongate's Myths series.

He has won numerous Scottish literary prizes, including the Macallan Short Story Competition, The Neil Gunn Prize, and the Saltire First Book of the Year Award.

Faber now lives in the Scottish Highlands with his family. He reviews books for The Guardian and continues to write.

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The Apple: Crimson Petal Stories - Paperback
In this collection, Michel Faber revisits the world of his bestselling novel 'The Crimson Petal and the White', briefly opening doors onto the lives of its characters to give us tantalising glimpses of where they sprang from and what happened to them.
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The Courage Consort - Paperback
The Courage Consort, possibly the seventh best-known a cappella vocal ensemble in Britain, are given two weeks in a Belgian chateau to rehearse their latest commission, the complicated Partitum Mutante. But can the piece be performed?
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The Crimson Petal And The White - Paperback
Sugar, an alluring, 19 year old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs Castaway, yearns for a better life - and her ascent through the strata of 1870's London society offers us intimacy with a host of loveable and maddening characters.
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The Fahrenheit Twins - Paperback
Written by the author of 'Some Rain Must Fall', this work is a collection of stories. From achingly sad lost lives, through moments of exquisitely distilled happiness, to biblical innocence and savagery, the author's characters are redeemed, abandoned, beloved and laid bare.
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The Fire Gospel - Paperback
When Theo Griepenkerl finds the fifth Gospel in a war-torn Iraqi museum, he can't believe his luck. He capitalises on his find by publishing it. His book is a sensation. But he can hardly imagine the incendiary consequences his discovery will have for Christians, Arabs, homicidal maniacs and Amazon customers alike.
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The Hundred And Ninety-Nine Steps - Paperback
Sian, tired of nightmares in which she meets a grisly end, decides she needs to get out more, so she joins an archaeological dig at Whitby Abbey. What she finds is a mystery involving a long-hidden murder.
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Under The Skin - Paperback
The novel centres around a female character, Isserly, who seems to be obsessed with picking up male hitch-hikers, as long as they are muscular and fit. As the story unfolds, the reader comes to realise that Isserly's motives are rather unusual.