Orchard on Fire Paperback - 1997

From the publisher

Shena Mackay was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and grew up in Kent and London, where she now lives. She left school at the age of 16 after winning a poetry competition in the Daily Mirror Her first book, published in 1964 but written when she was still a teenager, consists of two novellas, Dust Falls on Eugene Schlumburger and Toddler on the Run. Her first novel, Music Upstairs was published in 1965 and was followed by Old Crow (1967), An Advent Calendar (1971), Babies in Rhinestones (1983), A Bowl of Cherries (1984), Redhill Rococo (1986) -- winner of the Fawcett Prize -- Dreams of Dead Women' Handbags (1987), the widely admired Dunedin (1992) and The Laughing Academy (1993). Both Dunedin and The Laughing Academy won Scottish Arts Council Book Awards. The Orchard on Fire was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize and the McVities Prize. The Artist's Widow was published in 1998 and her latest book, The World's Smallest Unicorn, a collection of short stories, was published in 1999.

Shena regularly writes stories for the BBC and others, and reviews books and theatre for a variety of publications. She has been a Booker Prize judge and has also been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

About the author