Adam Lively was born in Swansea and educated in England and America. His debut novel Blue Fruit was published in 1988. In 1993, he was selected by Granta magazine in their list of Best of Young British Novelists. Since then, however he has failed to achieve the same level of literary accomplishment and renown as some of his fellows on that list, for example, Kazuo Ishiguro or Alan Hollinghurst.