Helen Dunmore (1952–2017)
Author of The Siege
About the Author
Helen Dunmore was born in Beverley, England on December 12, 1952. She received a degree in English from the University of York in 1973. She taught English in Finland before moving to Bristol, England, where she taught literature and creative writing. She was a poet, novelist, and children's author. show more Her collections of poetry include The Apple Fall, The Raw Garden, and Inside the Wave. Her books include Talking to the Dead, Your Blue-Eyed Boy, House of Orphans, The Greatcoat, The Siege, The Betrayal, The Lie, and Birdcage Walk. She won the McKitterick Prize for debut novelists in 1994 for Zennor in Darkness, the inaugural Orange Prize for Fiction in 1996 for A Spell of Winter, and the Costa Award for Poetry in 2017 for Inside the Wave. She died of cancer on June 5, 2017 at the age of 64. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: © Jerry Bauer
Series
Works by Helen Dunmore
Associated Works
Freedom: Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2009) — Contributor — 73 copies
Contos Coragem 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1952-12-12
- Date of death
- 2017-06-05
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Berkeley, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Place of death
- Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, UK
- Cause of death
- cancer
- Places of residence
- Yorkshire, England, UK
Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Finland - Education
- Nottingham High School for Girls
University of York - Occupations
- poet
novelist
children's book author
short story writer
literary critic - Organizations
- Royal Society of Literature
Society of Authors
Royal Literary Fund (trustee) - Awards and honors
- Royal Society of Literature (fellow, 1997)
- Agent
- Caradoc King (AP Watt)
- Short biography
- Helen Dunmore was born in Beverley, in Yorkshire, England and grew up in a bookish household. The family moved frequently for her father's work. She attended Sutton High School, London and Nottingham Girls' High School, then direct grant grammar schools.
She studied English at York University, where she developed a lifelong love for Russian poets, especially Osip Mandelstam. From 1973 to 1975, she lived in Finland and worked as a teacher. In 1980, she married Frank Charnley, a lawyer, with whom she had two children and a stepson. She became the author of 11 collections of poetry, 12 novels, three books of short stories, and numerous books for young adults and children. She also wrote literary criticism. Some of Dunmore's children's books are included in school curricula.
She taught on Arvon Foundation writing courses, set up a poetry group in Bristol, worked on the management committee of the Society of Authors and served as its chair. She was a trustee of the Royal Literary Fund.
She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997. In March 2017, she published her last novel, Birdcage Walk, and her final poetry collection, Inside the Wave, appeared a month later, shortly before her death. Inside the Wave posthumously won the Poetry and overall Book of the Year awards in the 2017 Costa Book Awards.
Members
Discussions
BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE OCTOBER 2015 - DUNMORE & MITCHELL in 75 Books Challenge for 2015 (January 2016)
A Spell of Winter, Helen Dunmore in World Reading Circle (February 2013)
The Siege by Helen Dunmore in Orange January/July (January 2012)
A SPELL OF WINTER by Helen Dunmore in Orange January/July (August 2011)
Reviews
Lists
THE WAR ROOM (1)
Booker Prize (1)
Sense of place (1)
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 70
- Also by
- 23
- Members
- 7,746
- Popularity
- #3,147
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 299
- ISBNs
- 481
- Languages
- 13
- Favorited
- 19
As it is to be expected, there are some great depictions of hunger, sickness and struggle. Some of the descriptions are really beautiful and the language is nice.
But, this book fails in character development. For a background story of such epic magnitude, there is remarkably little emotion here. I was so disappointed in this respect.
There is also an attempt to expand the plot with a family story before the war, but it never comes alive for me.
One other detail I didn't like was that the city never felt like St. Petersburg. It could've been any other city. It really doesn't do it justice.
The thing is, I feel bad to give this book a low rating cause it's honourable to write books that give a name to all the brave people who went through such horrors. But, in a literary sense, this book doesn't come even close to the snippets of praise on its blurb.
2.5 stars… (more)