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Alice Thompson

アリス・トンプソン

Arisu Tonpuson

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
Edinburgh
Nationality
Scottish, British
Languages
English
Residence History
Edinburgh

Career

Occupations
novelist
Active Years
1990-2015

Education

St George's School, Edinburgh
Country: United Kingdom
Oxford University
Faculty of English / English
Degree: Ph.D.
Country: United Kingdom
Thesis on Henry James

Awards

James Tait Black Memorial Prize
1996
Work: Justine
Organization: University of Edinburgh
Result: joint winner
Creative Scotland Award
2000
Organization: Creative Scotland
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Killing Time

1990 novella

Justine

1996 novel

Pandora's Box

1998 novel

Pharos: A Ghost Story

2002 novel

The Falconer

2008 novel

The Existential Detective

2010 novel

Burnt Island

2013 novel

The Book Collector

2015 novel

Style & Themes

Literary Style
gothic postmodernism
Recurring Motifs
fairiesdeathduplicity

Legacy

Known as a Scottish gothic novelist, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Praised for her distinctive gothic postmodernism.

Quotes

  • Their romance had been like a fairytale. If only she could work out which fairytale it was, it would somehow help her.
    Source: Critical reception
  • There is a distinctive ambience to an Alice Thompson novel.
    Source: Critical reception
  • A genuinely eerie tale, in a perfect setting and told with just the right amount of ambiguity.
    Source: Kirkus Reviews (Pharos)

Trivia

  • Keyboard player with rock band The Woodentops in the 1980s.
  • Has a son.
  • Writer in Residence in Shetland.