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Michelle Harrison is a full time author who lives in Essex. Her first novel, The Thirteen Treasures, won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and is published in sixteen countries including the UK. It was followed by The Thirteen Curses and The Thirteen Secrets. Michelle has since written Unrest, a ghost story for older readers and One Wish, a prequel to the Thirteen Treasures books. The Other Alice is her sixth novel.
Michelle's path to becoming a writer was inspired by stories told by her sisters as she was growing up, one of which was so vivid it prompted her to dig in the garden looking for evidence of a dead fairy. (She didn't find anything.) Since becoming a published author she still does strange things like asking people to shut her in the boots of their cars – all in the name of research, of course – like Alice.
Michelle has a son called Jack and two black cats. She suspects one of them is a mischief, but hasn't caught her drinking tea . . . yet.
Q&A with Michelle Harrison
Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. I'm a 'glass half-full' type of person.
Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. Elvesden Manor.
Q. What’s your best quality?
A. Optimism, or at least I like to think it is!
Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
A. I sometimes think I'd like to be a cat, just for the sheer amount of sleeping they do.
Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
A. My Essex accent.
Q. Who is your favourite fictional villain?
A. Beatrice Lacey in Wideacre by Philippa Gregory.
Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
A. It would be Jack the Ripper. I like to think I'd demand to know his identity, but in all honesty I'd probably run.
Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
A. People who look down their noses at others.
Q. What is your favourite occupation, when you’re not writing?
A. It depends on my mood, but drawing/painting, reading or watching a film.
Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
A. Being an author and an illustrator!
Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
A. Loyalty, a sense of humour, and integrity.
On Books and Writing
Favourite authors
Hans Christian Andersen, Enid Blyton, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Martina Cole, Roald Dahl, Philippa Gregory, The Brothers Grimm, Julie Hearn, Eva Ibbotson, Christopher Pike, J.K. Rowling, Marcus Sedgwick, Sarah Singleton.
Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
A. Read lots, write lots, and don't give up.
February 2021 Book of the Month | A Tangle of Spells is book three in Michelle Harrison’s series of stories about the Widdershins sisters and just as magical as the first two, which is really saying something. The three girls have moved to a new village and though it seems idyllic, beneath the surface something dark is lurking. When eldest sister Fliss falls under a strange enchantment, it’s up to Betty and Charlie to save her and in the process to break the spell that’s affecting the whole of Pendlewick too. The story crackles with magic and just the right level of spookiness and jeopardy. The three sisters are some of the liveliest, most individual and most appealing characters you’re likely to meet, and reading about them is like being part of the family. For readers who love fairytale fantasy and adventure, it doesn’t come better than this.
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month February 2020 | February 2020 Book of the Month | A spellbinding and warm-hearted sequel to A Pinch of Magic with the three Widdershins sisters Betty, Charlie and Fliss, now free from the curse that has held them prisoners on a remote island, back for a new thrilling adventure. This time the sisters have to deal with a mysterious stranger who comes with her own will-o’-the-wisp and a secret island which isn’t even on any map. And they have to find Charlie when she goes missing. As ever, the sisters are clever and brave and adept at managing the magic that surrounds them.
Return to the world of fairies with Tanya, Fabian and Red in the final exciting episode in the Thirteen sequence....
Sequel to the award-winning The Thirteen Treasures, this shows just about how disagreeable fairies can get! Red returns determined to find her brother and get him back. To do so she must find a way to enter the fairy realm. Having done so, she agrees to a challenge set by the fairy court. Red’s challenge is to find the thirteen charms from the bracelet, but will she be able to do it? Back in the real world, and helped by her friends Tanya and Fabian, Red sets out on her desperate and dangerous quest. Not only are the charms now twisted but the fairies are definitely not to be trusted...
This is an enchanting and at times terrifying debut that's beautifully written. 13 year old Tanya and her mother have an uneasy relationship so for part of the summer she is despatched off to her grandmother who lives in a rickety old house. While there, she sees a bookcase revolve and in front of her is a narrow stone staircase leading way down beyond the bowels of the house. She steps down them and what she sees brings a scream to her mouth but nothing come out. The long lost girl she sees carries something that for the briefest of moments morphs into something else and they each realise they both have the ability of second sight - of seeing fairies. Mysteries and secrets abound in this superb debut and Tanya is put in terrible danger in this sinister tale. Can Tanya's ability of second sight help her unravel the mystery?
This is a delightful, newly-minted fairy tale (three sisters, a quest, a witch, a moral) and thoroughly satisfying. The Widdershins sisters – Fliss, Betty and Charlie – live with their granny on the island of Crowstone, a miserable, end of the line kind of place, all damp, and marsh and mist. It’s not somwehere you’d want to live but as the story unfolds, we discover that because of an age-old curse, the girls can never leave. When breaking the curse becomes a matter of life or death, the three girls will have to work together – despite their sometimes spiky relationships – and at least they have a pinch of magic to help. This is an ingenious and compelling story and like the age-old tales that are its inspiration, pitches love, generosity and forgiveness against human cruelty. Superb! Books in The Widdershins Sisters Series: 1. A Pinch of Magic 2. A Sprinkle of Sorcery
One of our Books of the Year 2016 | Julia Eccleshare's Book of the Month August 2016 Award-winning Michelle Harrison’s The Other Alice is a fast-paced, tautly woven story stuffed full of imagination, magic and adventure which gives life in the world outside to characters who should remain safely within the pages of a book. Midge’s sister Alice loves writing stories but she is also tormented by them and the characters in them. Especially when she can’t finish one. When Alice goes missing her younger brother Midge is sure that the clues to what has happened to her will lie in her writing. Can Tabitha, a talking cat help him? Or Gipsy, a character from a story who is also searching for Alice? Or will the secret lie in The Museum of Unfinished Stories? It is a punchy adventure that also delves into the power of imagination. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for August 2016 The Other Alice by Michelle Harrison Pugly Solves a Crime by Pamela Butchart Good Night, Everyone by Chris Haughton Dotty Detective and the Great Pawprint Puzzle by Clara Vulliamy The Sands of Shark Island by Alexander McCall Smith Return by Aaron Becker Super Gran by Forrest Wilson Oi Dog! by Kes and Claire Gray
Return to the world of fairies with Tanya, Fabian and Red in the final exciting episode in the Thirteen sequence.... The thrilling trilogy comprises... The Thirteen Treasures The Thirteen Curses The Thirteen Secrets
June 2014 Book of the Month Enter an extraordinary magical world in which wishes can cause no end of trouble. When Tanya encounters the magical wishing tree she understands completely that she can only have one wish. Tanya already has the magical power of being able to see fairies – much to her mother’s disbelief. Now, she steps into a much darker kind of magic with Ratty as her companion. Ratty is a little boy who also has magical powers but they are not always used to good ends. How Tanya navigates this topsy-turvey world making magic seem dangerous near at hand. A prequel to The Thirteen Treasures, Thirteen Curses and The Thirteen Secrets.
Sequel to the award-winning The Thirteen Treasures, this shows just about how disagreeable fairies can get! Red returns determined to find her brother and get him back. To do so she must find a way to enter the fairy realm. Having done so, she agrees to a challenge set by the fairy court. Red’s challenge is to find the thirteen charms from the bracelet, but will she be able to do it? Back in the real world, and helped by her friends Tanya and Fabian, Red sets out on her desperate and dangerous quest. Not only are the charms now twisted but the fairies are definitely not to be trusted... If you’ve yet to read The Thirteen Treasures, then we urge you to do so. It was one of our bestselling novels of 2009 for 11-13 year olds.
Sequel to the award-winning The Thirteen Treasures, this shows just about how disagreeable fairies can get! Red returns determined to find her brother and get him back. To do so she must find a way to enter the fairy realm. Having done so, she agrees to a challenge set by the fairy court. Red’s challenge is to find the thirteen charms from the bracelet, but will she be able to do it? Back in the real world, and helped by her friends Tanya and Fabian, Red sets out on her desperate and dangerous quest. Not only are the charms now twisted but the fairies are definitely not to be trusted... If you’ve yet to read The Thirteen Treasures, then we urge you to do so. It was one of our bestselling novels of 2009 for 11-13 year olds.
Winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2009. This is an enchanting and at times terrifying debut that's beautifully written. 13 year old Tanya and her mother have an uneasy relationship so for part of the summer she is despatched off to her grandmother who lives in a rickety old house. While there, she sees a bookcase revolve and in front of her is a narrow stone staircase leading way down beyond the bowels of the house. She steps down them and what she sees brings a scream to her mouth but nothing come out. The long lost girl she sees carries something that for the briefest of moments morphs into something else and they each realise they both have the ability of second sight - of seeing fairies. Mysteries and secrets abound in this superb debut and Tanya is put in terrible danger in this sinister tale. Can Tanya's ability of second sight help her unravel the mystery? A word from the editor: As the publisher of The Spiderwick Chronicles, we know a good faerie tale when we see it… and we believe that this novel makes the perfect next step for fans of that bestselling series. Classic in its telling, but modern in its setting, The Thirteen Treasures is a novel that is destined to enchant. Michelle Harrison has woven a bewitching tale that sucks you in and doesn’t let you go, and surprises you all the way – rather like the faerie world that draws our heroine Tanya closer and closer to a terrifying fate in The Thirteen Treasures.
This is an enchanting and at times terrifying debut that's beautifully written. 13 year old Tanya and her mother have an uneasy relationship so for part of the summer she is despatched off to her grandmother who lives in a rickety old house. While there, she sees a bookcase revolve and in front of her is a narrow stone staircase leading way down beyond the bowels of the house. She steps down them and what she sees brings a scream to her mouth but nothing come out. The long lost girl she sees carries something that for the briefest of moments morphs into something else and they each realise they both have the ability of second sight - of seeing fairies. Mysteries and secrets abound in this superb debut and Tanya is put in terrible danger in this sinister tale. Can Tanya's ability of second sight help her unravel the mystery? A word from the editor: As the publisher of The Spiderwick Chronicles, we know a good faerie tale when we see it… and we believe that this novel makes the perfect next step for fans of that bestselling series. Classic in its telling, but modern in its setting, The Thirteen Treasures is a novel that is destined to enchant. Michelle Harrison has woven a bewitching tale that sucks you in and doesn’t let you go, and surprises you all the way – rather like the faerie world that draws our heroine Tanya closer and closer to a terrifying fate in The Thirteen Treasures. Winner of the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize 2009
May 2012 Book of the Month. Best-selling author Michelle Harrison blurs the lines between being dead and alive in this brilliant, spine-tingling story of the powers of the undead. Elliott escapes death by a hair’s breadth; he’s so close to it that he draws attention to himself from the dead. From that moment on, his nights are haunted by shadowy figures and he can never sleep properly… Elliott knows he is being sucked into the spirit world. Can he keep in his world and can he keep the dead from taking over? The Lovereading Comment: When the dead don't sleep, the living are afraid to... this is the exciting and chilling new stand-alone novel from the widely acclaimed and award-winning Michelle Harrison. Beautifully written with a power to it that draws you in and won't let you go, it's one that will live on well after you've finished the final page.
Sequel to the award-winning The Thirteen Treasures, this shows just about how disagreeable fairies can get! Red returns determined to find her brother and get him back. To do so she must find a way to enter the fairy realm. Having done so, she agrees to a challenge set by the fairy court. Red’s challenge is to find the thirteen charms from the bracelet, but will she be able to do it? Back in the real world, and helped by her friends Tanya and Fabian, Red sets out on her desperate and dangerous quest. Not only are the charms now twisted but the fairies are definitely not to be trusted... If you’ve yet to read The Thirteen Treasures, then we urge you to do so. It was one of our bestselling novels of 2009 for 11-13 year olds.
Sequel to the award-winning The Thirteen Treasures, this shows just about how disagreeable fairies can get! Red returns determined to find her brother and get him back. To do so she must find a way to enter the fairy realm. Having done so, she agrees to a challenge set by the fairy court. Red’s challenge is to find the thirteen charms from the bracelet, but will she be able to do it? Back in the real world, and helped by her friends Tanya and Fabian, Red sets out on her desperate and dangerous quest. Not only are the charms now twisted but the fairies are definitely not to be trusted... If you’ve yet to read The Thirteen Treasures, then we urge you to do so. It was one of our bestselling novels of 2009 for 11-13 year olds.
February 2021 Book of the Month | A Tangle of Spells is book three in Michelle Harrison’s series of stories about the Widdershins sisters and just as magical as the first two, which is really saying something. The three girls have moved to a new village and though it seems idyllic, beneath the surface something dark is lurking. When eldest sister Fliss falls under a strange enchantment, it’s up to Betty and Charlie to save her and in the process to break the spell that’s affecting the whole of Pendlewick too. The story crackles with magic and just the right level of spookiness and jeopardy. The three sisters are some of the liveliest, most individual and most appealing characters you’re likely to meet, and reading about them is like being part of the family. For readers who love fairytale fantasy and adventure, it doesn’t come better than this.
Black cats born at midnight Are different indeed A mischievous, odd And peculiar breed In the middle of winter, three kittens are born in a barn. Two are ordinary, but the third, jet black and born on the stroke of midnight, is brimming with magic from whiskers to tail - even sparking life into a dusty old broomstick! While her siblings pounce at rats, Midnight perfects her flying skills on the broom, not noticing how her mother disapproves of her magical ways... When Midnight finds herself abandoned, the little black kitten sets out to find a new home with only her loyal broom Twiggy at her side. The pair soon befriend a kind-hearted girl called Trixie. But how will Trixie's family react to Midnight's extraordinary powers and taste for mischief? A bewitching new series from the best-selling author of A PINCH OF MAGIC, Michelle Harrison. Told in rhyming verse and illustrated in colour throughout, this is perfect for readers of SQUISHY MCFLUFF, HUBBLE BUBBLE and GOBBOLINO. PRAISE FOR MIDNIGHT MAGIC: This is the perfect next step after picture books with fun rhyming text and sweet illustrations - a gorgeous young fiction book with plenty of sparkle! - Toppsta
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month February 2020 | February 2020 Book of the Month | A spellbinding and warm-hearted sequel to A Pinch of Magic with the three Widdershins sisters Betty, Charlie and Fliss, now free from the curse that has held them prisoners on a remote island, back for a new thrilling adventure. This time the sisters have to deal with a mysterious stranger who comes with her own will-o’-the-wisp and a secret island which isn’t even on any map. And they have to find Charlie when she goes missing. As ever, the sisters are clever and brave and adept at managing the magic that surrounds them.
Sequel to the award-winning The Thirteen Treasures, this shows just about how disagreeable fairies can get! Red returns determined to find her brother and get him back. To do so she must find a way to enter the fairy realm. Having done so, she agrees to a challenge set by the fairy court. Red’s challenge is to find the thirteen charms from the bracelet, but will she be able to do it? Back in the real world, and helped by her friends Tanya and Fabian, Red sets out on her desperate and dangerous quest. Not only are the charms now twisted but the fairies are definitely not to be trusted...
Return to the world of fairies with Tanya, Fabian and Red in the final exciting episode in the Thirteen sequence....
This is an enchanting and at times terrifying debut that's beautifully written. 13 year old Tanya and her mother have an uneasy relationship so for part of the summer she is despatched off to her grandmother who lives in a rickety old house. While there, she sees a bookcase revolve and in front of her is a narrow stone staircase leading way down beyond the bowels of the house. She steps down them and what she sees brings a scream to her mouth but nothing come out. The long lost girl she sees carries something that for the briefest of moments morphs into something else and they each realise they both have the ability of second sight - of seeing fairies. Mysteries and secrets abound in this superb debut and Tanya is put in terrible danger in this sinister tale. Can Tanya's ability of second sight help her unravel the mystery?
Misty has just started at school and Ella and Jack are keen to make her feel welcome. But Misty isn't like the other children; she has a spell book, she keeps vanishing, and why is she holding that broomstick? Can Ella and Jack solve the mystery of the new girl? The New Girl's Secret is part of the Galaxy range of books from Rising Stars Reading Planet. Galaxy provides captivating fiction and non-fiction for Pink A to White band. The rich collection of highly decodable books immerses children in a range of cross-curricular topics and genres. Reading Planet books have been carefully levelled to support children in becoming fluent and confident readers. Each book features useful notes and activities to support reading at home as well as comprehension questions to check understanding. Reading age: 6-7 years
Orphaned Mary Lennox doesn't want to live on the moors in a dark and gloomy mansion. The only thing that interests her is the story of the secret garden which her uncle has locked up forever. But then she finds a key ... Will Mary bring the garden back to life and discover the other secret Misselthwaite Manor is hiding? The Secret Garden is part of the Reading Planet range of books for Stars (Lime) to Supernova (Red+) band. Children aged 7-11 will be inspired to love reading through the gripping stories and fascinating information books created by top authors. Reading Planet books have been carefully levelled to support children in becoming fluent and confident readers. Each book features useful notes and questions to support reading at home and develop comprehension skills. Reading age: 8-9 years
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