Annalena McAfee Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Chapter Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Annalena McAfee is a popular British novelist and journalist, who is famous for writing children’s novels and fiction books. She is particularly well known for writing the novels, The Spoiler, published in 2011, and Hame, released in 2017. Author Annalena was born in the year 1952 in London, England, The United Kingdom. In 2003, she was selected as a judge for the Orange Prize in Fiction, which is the largest yearly literary award of the UK. Annalena has also served on the judges panel of the arts awards of The South Bank Show, the Penguin/Guardian photography competition, the Ben Pimlott Award for political writing, the Samuel Johnson award for non-fiction, and a few other awards. Author Annalena has spoken at a number of literary festivals. Some of the most popular ones include Prague in 2003, Hay-on-Wye in 2005, etc. The year 2008 saw her serve as a judge for Orwell Prize in the category of political writing. Author Annalena has even worked as the editor of the review supplement of The Guardian, called the Guardian Review. She was involved in this work from 1999 to 2006. It was only after resigning from this job that author Annalena began pursuing a career in the field of writing. Prior to being employed at The Guardian, Annalena used to work for the Financial Times as a literary journalist. She has also worked as a theater critic on Evening Standard. Throughout her literary career, author Annalena has written numerous children’s books, a few of which have been translated into the foreign languages such as German, Dutch, and French.

In addition to this, Annalena has done the editing of an anthology of the literary profiles. Annalena looks more of an apprehensive personality. She has spent a major part of her adult life in writing books, editing anthologies and essays, interviewing journalists, and judging annual literary awards. While working in the journalism field, she happy to put her efforts in the background and loathe picture bylines. So, when she decided to publish a book of her own, she felt like volunteering for stocks and giving out rotten fruits. Annalena was ready to face the criticism about her work as she was new to this field. But, all went well for her as her books were appreciated by the readers and critics alike. Her novels have also generated a great interest in her former colleagues. Annalena believes the reason for this is that her first book called The Spoiler is based on them. It is a satire based on the newspaper industry. In the book, author Annalena has made fun of the slack moral code and louche behavior of the finest of the Fleet Street. The book also deals with the obsession of celebrity and sex that pervades the poshest newsrooms. Annalena says that the insiders will find the book much funnier in trying to guess the real life characters on which the book’s characters are based. Author Annalena is married to Ian McEwan, who is also a well known British novelist. The two walked the aisle in 1997 after getting attracted towards each other during an interview that Annalena conducted for Financial Times. Nowadays, author Annalena and her husband spend most of their time working quietly in their respective studies. They do not face any distractions as their children have also grown up. Annalena feels that McEwan is a better role model for her as far as keeping the focus towards work is concerned. As of now, Annalena has started her work on her next novel. She says that this new novel is not based on journalism. Now that she has established herself well in the writing world, she has realized that she must bring variety in her work.

A wonderful book written by author Annalena McAfee during the initial phase of her career is entitled ‘The Spoiler’. It was released by the Harvill Secker publication in the year 2011. Author Annalena has set this book’s plot in London, England, at the time of the year 1997, and has mentioned the lead characters as Tamara Sim and Honor Tait. The starting lines of the book mention that every story has two sides. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that two female journalists meet each other for the first time. One of them is old and the other is young. One likes to write about celebrity gossips and the other is a veteran correspondent of war. The month of January in 1997 is seeing the last days of the government of John Major in England. The newspapers are already fighting to get more readership. And amidst the plunging downmarket, the rumors about internet bringing a change in the world forever begin to make the rounds in the city. The veteran journalist Honor Tait, who is among the renowned journalists of her time, seems haunted by her own past. Even Tamara Sim is struggling to ensure a secure future in journalism. She is willing to go at any lengths to secure her job in this precarious industry. And when Tamara Sim meets Honor Tait to interview her, a rich and dark comedy is generated from the mutual incomprehension of the two. However, when the different worlds of the two women finally collide, they produce extremely devastating consequences.

Another exciting book penned by author Annalena is called ‘Hame’. It was also released by Harvill Secker in 2017. Annalena has done the setting of this novel in New York and Scotland, and has depicted the central characters as Mhairi McPhil, Agnes, Grigor McWatt, etc. At the beginning of the story of the book, it is depicted that Mhairi McPhil experiences a breakdown of her married life, following which she decides to dismantle her life in New York. She moves to a distant island in Scotland called Fascaray, along with her 9 year old daughter named Agnes. There, she gets commissioned to write the biography of Fascaray’s late bard named Grigor McWatt, who was regarded as a cantankerous poet with an international reputation. Mhairi McPhil begins her work on the biography by collecting information about the personal life of Grigor McWatt. While doing so, she comes across some chilling details from his past life, suggesting that his difficult childhood and his time as a commando are elusive. Mhairi finds some strong evidence, which point to a mysterious love affair. She becomes desperate to investigate the matter and determined to find the truth about the affair. As Mhairi McPhil struggles in adapting to the new life, she puts behind her troubled past and begins to unearth the secret history of the great poet, who was regarded as Fascaray’s custodian and the soul of Scotland.