Background
Kate Atkinson was born in York, United Kingdom on December 20, 1951. Her father was a shopkeeper.
Atkinson studied English literature at the University of Dundee. In 1974 she graduated with a master degree.
Atkinson was ivolved in Ph.D. studies in American literature. Her main topic was "The post-modern American short story in its historical context". She flunked the oral examination stage.
Atkinson studied at the Queen Anne Grammar School for Girls in York.
Atkinson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature.
(A deeply moving family story of happiness and heartbreak,...)
A deeply moving family story of happiness and heartbreak, Behind the Scenes at the Museum is bestselling author Kate Atkinson's award-winning literary debut. National Bestseller Winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn about her family and its secrets.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BMKE7CE/?tag=2022091-20
1995
(This novel tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a girl grow...)
This novel tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a girl growing up in Lythe, a typical 1960s British suburb. But Lythe was once the heart of an Elizabethan feudal estate and home to a young English tutor named William Shakespeare, and as Isobel investigates the strange history of her family, her neighbors, and her village, she occasionally gets caught in Shakespearean time warps. Meanwhile, she gets closer to the shocking truths about her missing mother, her war-hero father, and the hidden lives of her close friends and classmates. A stunning feat of imagination and storytelling from Kate Atkinson, Human Croquet is rich with the disappointments and possibilities every family shares.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFQAO4U/?tag=2022091-20
1997
(Emotionally Weird is a thoroughly original and hilarious ...)
Emotionally Weird is a thoroughly original and hilarious new novel about mothers, daughters, and love, by the author of Behind the Scenes at the Museum On a weather-beaten island off the coast of Scotland, Effie and her mother, Nora, take refuge in the large, mouldering house of their ancestors and tell each other stories. Nora, at first, recounts nothing that Effie really wants to hear - like who her real father was. Effie tells various versions of her life at college, where in fact she lives in a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed, and to whom Klingons are as real as Spaniards and Germans. But as mother and daughter spin their tales, strange things are happening around them. Is Effie being followed? Is someone killing the old people? And where is the mysterious yellow dog? In a brilliant comic narrative which explores the nonsensical power of language and meaning, Kate Atkinson has created another magical masterpiece.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFQ7BXW/?tag=2022091-20
2000
(Arthur is a precocious eight-year-old boy whose mother is...)
Arthur is a precocious eight-year-old boy whose mother is a B-list celebrity more concerned with the state of her bank account than with her son's development. Then an enigmatic young nanny named Missy introduces him to a world he never knew existed.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028MVH3C/?tag=2022091-20
2002
(The first book in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie Mysterie...)
The first book in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie Mysteries series, called "The best mystery of the decade" by Stephen King, finds private investigator Jackson Brodie following three seemingly unconnected family mysteries in Edinburgh Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape. Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge . The first book in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie Mysteries series, called "The best mystery of the decade" by Stephen King, finds private investigator Jackson Brodie following three seemingly unconnected family mysteries in Edinburgh Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape. Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SEI07S/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(On a beautiful summer day, crowds lined up outside a thea...)
On a beautiful summer day, crowds lined up outside a theater witness a sudden act of extreme road rage: a tap on a fender triggers a nearly homicidal attack. Jackson Brodie, ex-cop, ex-private detective, new millionaire, is among the bystanders. The event thrusts Jackson into the orbit of the wife of an unscrupulous real estate tycoon, a washed-up comedian, a successful crime novelist, a mysterious Russian woman, and a female police detective. Each of them hiding a secret, each looking for love or money or redemption or escape, they all play a role in driving Jackson out of retirement and into the middle of several mysteries that intersect in one sinister scheme. Kate Atkinson "writes such fluid, sparkling prose that an ingenious plot almost seems too much to ask, but we get it anyway," writes Laura Miller for Salon. With a keen eye for the excesses of modern life, a warm understanding of the frailties of the human heart, and a genius for plots that turn and twist, Atkinson has written a novel that delights and surprises from the first page to the last.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q80TA2/?tag=2022091-20
2006
(The third installment in Kate Atkinson's wildly beloved s...)
The third installment in Kate Atkinson's wildly beloved series of Jackson Brodie Mysteries: a complex tale of murder, coincidence, and connected lives. "As a reader, I was charmed. As a novelist, I was staggered by Kate Atkinson's narrative wizardry." - Stephen King On a hot summer day, Joanna Mason's family slowly wanders home along a country lane. A moment later, Joanna's life is changed forever... On a dark night thirty years later, ex-detective Jackson Brodie finds himself on a train that is both crowded and late. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly hears a shocking sound... At the end of a long day, 16-year-old Reggie is looking forward to watching a little TV. Then a terrifying noise shatters her peaceful evening. Luckily, Reggie makes it a point to be prepared for an emergency... These three lives come together in unexpected and deeply thrilling ways in the latest novel from Kate Atkinson, the critically acclaimed author who Harlan Coben calls "an absolute must-read."
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AO0HBC/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired...)
Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective - a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other - or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge. Meanwhile, Jackson Brodie, the beloved detective of novels such as Case Histories, is embarking on a different sort of rescue-that of an abused dog. Dog in tow, Jackson is about to learn, along with Tracy, that no good deed goes unpunished.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047Y16XA/?tag=2022091-20
2010
(What if you could live again and again, until you got it ...)
What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she? Darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original - this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best. What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she? Darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original - this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008TUQ60G/?tag=2022091-20
2013
("He had been reconciled to death during the war and then ...)
"He had been reconciled to death during the war and then suddenly the war was over and there was a next day and a next day. Part of him never adjusted to having a future." Kate Atkinson's dazzling Life After Life explored the possibility of infinite chances and the power of choices, following Ursula Todd as she lived through the turbulent events of the last century over and over again. A GOD IN RUINS tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy - would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather-as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world. After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have. An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times, A GOD IN RUINS proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NERQQXG/?tag=2022091-20
2015
(In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantl...)
In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns both tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever. Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence. Transcription is a work of rare depth and texture, a bravura modern novel of extraordinary power, wit and empathy. It is a triumphant work of fiction from one of the best writers of our time. Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence. Transcription is a work of rare depth and texture, a bravura modern novel of extraordinary power, wit and empathy. It is a triumphant work of fiction from one of the best writers of our time.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078W646XC/?tag=2022091-20
2018
Kate Atkinson was born in York, United Kingdom on December 20, 1951. Her father was a shopkeeper.
In her early childhood Atkinson studied at a private preparatory school and later the Queen Anne Grammar School for Girls in York. Atkinson studied English literature at the University of Dundee. In 1974 she graduated with a master degree. Later she was involved in Ph.D. studies in American literature. Her main topic was "The post-modern American short story in its historical context". She flunked the oral examination stage.
After graduation in 1974, Atkinson was involved in a variety of jobs from home help to legal secretary and teacher. In 1981-1982 she started writing short-stories, which she found an effective outlet for her creative energy. Later one of her short stories “In China” won a competition sponsored by Woman’s Own magazine. That inspired her to write fiction for various publishers, such as Good Housekeeping and the Daily Mail.
Since 1995 Atkinson is involved in larger literary forms. Her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, received the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, one of England’s most prestigious literary prizes, in 1995. After that she has released nine more novels, one play, and one collection of short stories. Her series of four novels Case Histories, featuring the character of Jackson Brodie as a private investigator and former police inspector, was made into a TV series by BBC channel in 2011.
Atkinson currently lives and works in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
(Emotionally Weird is a thoroughly original and hilarious ...)
2000(The first book in Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie Mysterie...)
2004(Tracy Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired...)
2010(Arthur is a precocious eight-year-old boy whose mother is...)
2002(On a beautiful summer day, crowds lined up outside a thea...)
2006(A deeply moving family story of happiness and heartbreak,...)
1995(What if you could live again and again, until you got it ...)
2013(The third installment in Kate Atkinson's wildly beloved s...)
2008("He had been reconciled to death during the war and then ...)
2015(This novel tells the story of Isobel Fairfax, a girl grow...)
1997(In 1940, eighteen-year old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantl...)
2018Kate Atkinson think that authors shouldn't review their collegues and calls it a “callous art”.
Quotations: “I think it is a really unpleasant process to be reviewed. I would never review another writer unless it was a book I thought was the best book ever written. I think it is a callous art a lot of the time.”
Atkinson is, by her own confessions, rather tremulous to literary criticism.
Quotes from others about the person
Telegraph: "A voice that is both idiosyncratic and wise, one that sees the world in a distinctive, dark, but oddly consoling way. Atkinson is often compared in terms of her complex plots and multifaceted characters to Charles Dickens. But the novelist Life After Life most conjures is her heroine Jane Austen, whose writing is also full of a sense of might-have-been."
The Sunday Times: "It doesn't really matter in which genre Atkinson chooses to write. Her subject is always the irrecoverable loss of love and how best to continue living once you have glumly recognised that "That was what the world was like, things improved but they didn't get better". Her gift is presenting this unnerving and subversive philosophy as a dazzling form of entertainment."
Atkinson was married twice and has two daughters - one from each marriage - Eve and Helen.