Born in Malawi to a Belgian mother and a father who ran the tiny 'Nyasaland Times', Michelle Paver moved to the UK when she was three. She grew up in Wimbledon and, following a Biochemistry Degree from Oxford, she became a partner in a City law firm. Eventually, though, having submerged herself in myth and folklore (not at work) and having been chased by a bear (again, not at work), she gave up the lawyer life to follow her long-held dream of becoming a writer.