Lively, Penelope 1933- (Penelope Margaret Lively, Penelope Margaret Low)

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Lively, Penelope 1933- (Penelope Margaret Lively, Penelope Margaret Low)

PERSONAL:

Born March 17, 1933, in Cairo, Egypt; daughter of Roger Low (a bank manager) and Vera Greer; immigrated to England, 1945; married Jack Lively (a university teacher), June 27, 1957; children: Josephine, Adam. Education: St. Anne's College, Oxford, B.A. (with honors), 1956. Hobbies and other interests: Gardening, landscape history, talking, listening.

ADDRESSES:

Home—London, England. Agent—David Higham Associates, 5-8 Lower John St., Golden Square, London W1F 9HA, England.

CAREER:

Writer.

MEMBER:

Society of Authors, PEN, Royal Society of Literature (fellow).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Children's Spring Book Festival Award, Book World, 1973, for The Driftway; Carnegie Medal, and Hans Christian Andersen Award list, both 1973, both for The Ghost of Thomas Kempe; Whitbread Award, 1976, for A Stitch in Time; Booker-McConnell Prize shortlist, 1977, for The Road to Lichfield, and 1984, for According to Mark; Southern Arts Literary Prize, 1978, for Nothing Missing but the Samovar and Other Stories; Arts Council of Great Britain National Book Award, 1979, for Treasures of Time; Whitbread Award shortlist and Booker-McConnell Prize, both 1987, both for Moon Tiger; honorary D.Litt., Tufts University, 1990, and Warwick University, 1998; honorary fellow, Swansea University, 2002; Order of the British Empire, 1989, for contributions to literature; Commander of the British Empire, 2002; The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, The House in Norham Gardens, A Stitch in Time, and Fanny's Sister were all Horn Book honor books; The House in Norham Gardens was an American Library Association Notable Book.

WRITINGS:

FOR CHILDREN

Astercote, illustrated by Antony Maitland, Heinemann (London, England), 1970, Dutton (New York, NY), 1971, Mammoth (London, England), 1996.

The Whispering Knights, illustrated by Gareth Floyd, Heinemann (London, England), 1971, Dutton (New York, NY), 1976, Mammoth (London, England), 1995.

The Wild Hunt of Hagworthy, illustrated by Juliet Mozley, Heinemann (London, England), 1971, illustrated by Robert Payne, Pan Books (New York, NY), 1975, published as The Wild Hunt of the Ghost Hounds, Dutton (New York, NY), 1972, illustrated by Jeremy Ford, Puffin Books (New York, NY), 1984.

The Driftway, Heinemann (London, England), 1972, Dutton (New York, NY), 1973, Mammoth (London, England), 1993.

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, illustrated by Antony Maitland, Dutton (New York, NY), 1973, Mammoth (London, England), 1992.

The House in Norham Gardens, Dutton (New York, NY), 1974, Mammoth (London, England), 1994.

Boy Without a Name, illustrated by Ann Dalton, Parnassus Press (Berkeley, CA), 1975.

Going Back, Dutton (New York, NY), 1975.

A Stitch in Time, Dutton (New York, NY), 1976.

The Stained Glass Window, illustrated by Michael Pollard, Abelard-Schumann (London, England), 1976, McRae (England), 1990.

Fanny's Sister (also see below), illustrated by John Lawrence, Heinemann (London, England), 1976, new edition, illustrated by Anita Lobel, Dutton (New York, NY), 1980.

The Presence of the Past: An Introduction to Landscape History, Collins (London, England), 1976.

The Voyage of QV66, illustrated by Harold Jones, Heinemann (London, England), 1978, Dutton (New York, NY), 1979.

Fanny and the Monsters (also see below), illustrated by John Lawrence, Heinemann (London, England), 1979, enlarged edition, 1983.

Fanny and the Battle of Potter's Piece (also see below), illustrated by John Lawrence, Heinemann (London, England), 1980.

The Revenge of Samuel Stokes, Dutton (New York, NY), 1981.

Fanny and the Monsters and Other Stories (contains Fanny's Sister, Fanny and the Monsters, and Fanny and the Battle of Potter's Piece), Puffin Books (New York, NY), 1982.

Uninvited Ghosts and Other Stories, illustrated by John Lawrence, Heinemann (London, England), 1984, Dutton (New York, NY), 1985.

Dragon Trouble, illustrated by Valerie Littlewood, Heinemann (London, England), 1984, Crabtree (New York, NY), 2002.

A House Inside Out, illustrated by David Parkins, Deutsch (London, England), 1987, Dutton (New York, NY), 1988.

Debbie and the Little Devil, illustrated by Toni Goffe, Heinemann (London, England), 1987.

Judy and the Martian, Simon & Schuster (London, England), 1992, published as A Martian in the Supermarket, illustrated by Alison Bartlett, Hodder Children's Books (London, England) 2002.

The Cat, the Crow, and the Banyan Tree, illustrated by Terry Milne, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

Good Night, Sleep Tight, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 1995.

A Martian Comes to Stay, illustrated by Anthony Lewis, Macdonald Young Books (Hemel Hempstead), 1995.

Staying with Grandpa, illustrated by Paul Howard, Viking (London, England), 1995.

Two Bears and Joe, Viking (New York, NY), 1995.

Ghostly Guests, illustrated by Frank Rogers, Heinemann (London, England), 1997.

(Reteller) Goldilocks and the Three Bears, illustrated by Debi Gliori, Macdonald Young Books (Hove, England), 1997.

One, Two, Three, Jump!, M.K. McElderry Books (New York, NY), 1998.

In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid, illustrated by Ian Andrews, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Also author of The Disastrous Dog. Contributor to children's magazines, including Horn Book and Junior Bookshelf.

ADULT FICTION

The Road to Lichfield, Heinemann, (London, England), 1977, Penguin (New York, NY), 1983.

Nothing Missing but the Samovar and Other Stories, Heinemann (London, England), 1978.

Treasures of Time, Heinemann (London, England), 1979, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1980.

Judgment Day, Heinemann (London, England), 1980, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1981, reprinted, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Next to Nature, Art, Heinemann (London, England), 1982, Penguin (New York, NY), 1984.

Perfect Happiness, Heinemann (London, England), 1983, Dial Press (Garden City, NY), 1984.

Corruption and Other Stories, Heinemann (London, England), 1984.

According to Mark (novel), Beaufort Books (New York, NY), 1984.

Pack of Cards (short stories, including "Nothing Missing but the Samovar" and "Corruption"), Heinemann (London, England), 1986, Penguin (New York, NY), 1988.

Moon Tiger, Deutsch (London, England), 1987, Grove Weidenfeld (New York, NY), 1988.

Passing On, Deutsch (London, England), 1989, Grove Weidenfeld (New York, NY), 1990.

City of the Mind, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991.

Cleopatra's Sister, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

A Long Night at Abu Simbel (stories from Pack of Cards), Penguin (London, England), 1995.

Lost Dog and Other Stories, Penguin (London, England), 1996.

Heat Wave, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

The Five Thousand and One Nights, Fjord Press (Seattle, WA), 1997.

Beyond the Blue Mountains, Viking (New York, NY), 1997.

Spiderweb, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1999.

The Photograph, Viking (London, England), 2001, Viking (New York, NY), 2003.

Making It Up (short stories), Viking (New York, NY), 2005.

Consequences (novel), Viking (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

Boy Dominic (television play; three episodes), Yorkshire TV, 1974.

Time out of Mind (television play for children), BBC-TV, 1976.

(Author of introduction) Ivy Compton-Burnett, Father and His Fate, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1984.

(Author of introduction) Ivy Compton-Burnett, Manservant and Maidservant, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1987.

(Author of introduction) Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Virago (London, England), 1988.

(Author of introduction) Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Everyman (London, England), 1993.

Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived (memoir), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

(Author of introduction) Willa Cather, My Antonia, Everyman (London, England), 1996.

(Author of introduction) The Mythical Quest, British Library (London, England), 1996.

A House Unlocked (memoir), Viking (New York, NY), 2001.

New Writing 10, Picador (London, England), 2001.

Also contributor to books, including My England, Heinemann (New York, NY), 1973, and Egypt: Antiquities from Above, Marilyn Bridges, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1996. Contributor of short stories and articles to periodicals, including Encounter, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Literary Review, and Quarto. Reviewer for newspapers and author of television and radio scripts. Many of Lively's writings have been translated into other languages.

ADAPTATIONS:

Several of Lively's books have been adapted as audiobooks, including House Inside Out, Chivers Press, 1988. The Ghost of Thomas Kempe was adapted for television by ABC-TV, 1979.

SIDELIGHTS:

Penelope Lively, author of more than forty books for children and adults, has distinguished herself as a writer of both juvenile and adult books in a career spanning over thirty years. She has won such prestigious awards as the Booker-McConnell Prize and the Whitbread Award. Publishers Weekly contributor Amanda Smith considered Lively "one of England's finest writers," and added that her novels are "characterized by intelligence, precision and wit." Sheila A. Egoff, in her Thursday's Child: Trends and Patterns in Contemporary Children's Literature, wrote that Lively "has an uncannily accurate and honest recall of what it is like to be a child in a world made for adults." As to her adult fiction, a Times Literary Supplement contributor commented that Lively conveys "a prose that is invariably as precise as it is unostentatious."

Lively began writing children's books while raising her two children, Josephine and Adam. Writing stories for children was a convenient way to express her interests. Lively's first published novel, Astercote, explored her fascination with deserted medieval villages. Although the book was criticized for its lack of living characters and convincing dialogue, reviewers also found it intriguing and exciting. Lively published two subsequent juvenile novels, The Whispering Knights and The Driftway. The Driftway follows Paul and his tagalong sister as he runs away from his stepmother and a charge of shoplifting. He comes across an old road that has been used for thousands of years by various travelers. These travelers have left messages from the past, which Paul is able to see and interpret with the help of a cartdriver named Bill. The characters from the past make him aware that "there is more than one point of view to every story, and he takes the first steps away from the morbid self-absorption of childhood towards feeling sympathy for others," wrote a Times Literary Supplement reviewer. Some writers, such as John Rowe Townsend, writing in A Sounding of Storytellers: New and Revised Essays on Contemporary Writers for Children, felt that the point of the story is weakened because the book as a whole lacks a strong story line—the reader never does find out what happens to Paul and his sister. The Driftway won the Children's Spring Book Festival Award in 1973.

Lively's best-received juvenile book, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, offers a light approach to the coming-of-age theme. The author uses one of her favorite devices in this book: the ghost. The story involves a boy's visitation by the spirit of a sorcerer from Stuart, England. At first, the ghost seems only mischievous, but it slowly becomes more and more menacing. James learns through the ghost what wickedness is, and is only able to put Kempe, the ghost, to rest by learning to recognize and cope with the wickedness within himself. Many critics agreed that The Ghost of Thomas Kempe is a well-written children's book. David Rees, author of The Marble in the Water: Essays on Contemporary Writers of Fiction for Children and Young Adults, felt that the book is of such high quality because for the first time "the author is completely sure of her own abilities, and the writing has a positiveness that derives from the author's pleasure in her awareness of these abilities."

Rees had even higher praise for A Stitch in Time, Lively's Whitbread Award winner. "A Stitch in Time is probably Penelope Lively's most important and memorable book," he declared. "Not only is its exploration of the significance of history and memory more profound than in any other of her novels, but the unfolding of the story is very fine." As Times Literary Supplement reviewer Ann Thwait noted, the story does not have a great deal of plot action, since most of this action occurs unobtrusively within the mind of Marie, the main character. Marie, who is spending her vacation with her parents in an old Victorian house in Lyme Regis, discovers a sampler made in 1865 by a girl named Harriet. The sampler provides a link to the past which Marie senses through such things as the squeaking of a swing and the barking of a dog, neither of which exist near the house at the present; they are only echoes of the past. The tension in the story lies in Marie's suspicion that something tragic has happened to Harriet, a belief supported by the lack of any pictures in the house of Harriet as an adult. Though the mystery is eventually solved, the real message of the book is summarized by the owner of the old house when he sagely remarks: "Things always could have been otherwise. The fact of the matter is that they are not."

"The Voyage of QV66 is a radical departure from all of Lively's earlier books," contended a Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor. At some unspecified time in the future, a cataclysmic event has wiped out the earth's human population. Animals have taken the place of humans, taking on speech and other human skills. For this tale, Lively has brought together six animals, including Pal, the dog, and Stanley, the monkey, to take a voyage to London in the boat QV66. In following the animals along their journey, the book "views human nature and civilization from a wry, ironic perspective," noted a Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor. The reviewer continued: "Readers are invited to laugh at the ways in which the animals imitate human behavior but are also exposed to the caustic comments made about humans, especially their habits of eating animals and killing one another with sharp sticks." In the end, the six voyagers find that the world has not changed; animals have simply replaced humans in carrying out the same human follies. Even so, as a Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor pointed out: "The little group of animals on the QV66 … represents the virtues of friendship, loyalty, and community and offers hope for the future."

Lively continued to write children's books throughout the 1980s, including such titles as The Revenge of Samuel Stokes, Uninvited Guests and Other Stories, and A House Inside Out. In 1993, she published another tale of animals who carry on like people. The Cat, the Crow, and the Banyan Tree portrays two friends, the cat and the crow, who live beneath the banyan tree, where they spend their time telling stories to each other. Critics have described the tales told by cat and crow as whimsical, imaginative, and delightful, but potentially confusing for children. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly observed that "Lively's narrative percolates with rhythm" and focuses interestingly on the process of storytelling itself.

Although she continued to write for children, in the late 1970s, after writing children's books for almost a decade, Lively decided it was time to change her primary focus. Lively's first novel for adults, The Road to Lichfield, is a complex tale about what happens to a married history teacher named Anne Linton when her conceptions about her childhood family life are suddenly altered. While going through her dying father's papers, she discovers that he was involved in an affair similar to her own extramarital relationship. "As everything in her life swings and changes, her father dies, her love is choked off, and only the road [between her present life in Cuxing and her childhood memories of Lichfield] remains permanent," summarized the Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor. "There is nothing very original about the plot" of The Road to Lichfield, noted John Mellors in the Listener, but the "book is lifted out of the ordinary by the author's treatment of her two main themes: continuity and memory."

In Lively's Booker-McConnell Award-winning story Moon Tiger, the "true center is no less than history itself—the abiding backdrop across which mere human beings flutter," wrote Anne Tyler in the New York Times Book Review. It is "the transitoriness of all human happiness and indeed of all human life" that is the concern of a respected historian, Claudia Hampton, as she considers her life from the vantage point of her deathbed, explained Francis King in a Spectator article. In this book, a complex interweaving of flashbacks takes the reader on a voyage through the dying historian's life, including a sojourn in World War II Egypt, where Claudia finds brief happiness with a tank commander, who is later killed in action. For some critics, like Martha Duffy of Time magazine, the story told in flashbacks involved in her search become "overdrawn" after a while. However, many reviewers concurred with Times Literary Supplement contributor J.K.L. Walker, who wrote: "Lively's ingenious, historically informed handling of [the story] is a considerable achievement and Claudia Hampton herself a formidably reflective and articulate protagonist." It is a tale told from the most widely encompassing perspective possible for a human being, a study of one character's entire lifetime memory and how she regards it.

Aisling Foster, in the Times Literary Supplement, viewed Lively's novel Heat Wave as "all about the power of love: protective maternal love, promiscuous sexual love, the nurturing love of Mother Nature and our love of animals and countryside which is both benign and exploitative." Set in the English countryside, the novel explores themes that have interested Lively in past works: history in the context of the present, and myth versus reality. The main protagonist is Pauline, a fifty-five-year-old freelance copyeditor who worries that her daughter will repeat her own mistakes. "Most importantly," commented a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, Lively "creates a convincing picture of obsessive sexual love tainted by jealousy and misery, and of the kind of maternal love that carries its own implacable mandates." While all this transpires, England is in the grip of some uncharacteristic weather. "The tension mounts as temperatures rise," observed Donna Seaman in Booklist, "but Lively keeps cool as she leads us to a surprise denouement—her impeccable prose delectably restrained, her humor neat and vicious, and her articulation of emotional states keen and vivifying." "The novel makes clear," in the estimation of People reviewer Joanne Kaufman, "that Lively knows well the topography of the human heart."

In A House Unlocked Lively explores her memories of her ancestral home Golsoncott in Somerset, England, which was originally bought by her grandparents in 1923. In 1995 the family had to sell the house after Lively's aunt died, and as Lively told Robert McCrum in the Observer, "My children and I were all heartbroken." They spent a great deal of time reminiscing about the house, until Lively realized "that I had this memory house and would never lose it." However, the book considers the loss of the house, and is an elegy to the era that the house embodied, as well as to the people who lived in it. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that the book "unlocks more than the house and its century."

Lively's 1991 title, City of the Mind, focuses on a divorced architect who is harassed by a nefarious developer when he refuses to work for him. The novel follows the architect as he struggles to regain meaning in his lonely life. "In chronicling … [his] passage from desolation to re-engagement, Lively affirms that our existences have meaning," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Cleopatra's Sister tells the story of two people on a plane taken hostage by terrorists. Julie J. Nichols, writing in Belles Lettres, noted that the author "is deliciously skilled, and we wonder until the last moment what exactly the outcome will be."

Spiderweb is a novel about Stella Brentwood, an anthropologist who has to retire and finds herself deciding to settle in a small English village, something that is contrary to her roaming nature as she has once traveled throughout the world as part of her job. Something of loner, Stella soon finds that Richard, the husband of her deceased friend Nadine, is interested in her romantically. As Stella tries to adjust to her new, unexciting life, she recalls her past adventures, both professional and romantic in nature. Richard Oloizia, writing in the Library Journal, referred to Spiderweb as a "subtle comedy of manners." A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that the author's "perceptive vision about the insularity of modern life rings true."

According to San Jose Mercury News contributor Charles Matthews, Lively's 2001 novel, The Photograph, is "more subtle, complex and knowing than some of the doorstop epics that pass for serious novels these days." The story revolves a woman whose death does not keep her from having a subsequent huge impact on people's lives. When Glyn Peters, a historian, discovers a picture of his late wife Kath posing in an intimate fashion with Glyn's brother, Nick, Glyn reveals his discovery to others, causing a ripple effect throughout the family and former friends of Kath. Nick's wife throws him out, and Glyn begins to track down others whom he suspects may have been Kath's lovers. "This desire to know and to accept that knowing is the only possible way forward is the theme tackled by Penelope Lively," wrote Philippa Nuttall on the PopMatters Web site. Once again, Lively received favorable reviews for her effort. Donna Seaman, writing in Booklist, commented that the author "offers provocative musings on work, obsession, the burden of beauty, alienation of affections, and the endless longing for love." A Kirkus Review contributor noted Lively's "wit, constructive skill, and verbal facility."

Called "intricate, heartbreaking and redemptive" by a Publishers Weekly contributor, Lively's 2007 novel, Consequences, is a multigenerational love story that begins in 1935 and ends seven decades later. Young Lucy loses her parents, first her father when he is killed fighting in Egypt, and then her mother when she remarries and dies giving birth to her son, Simon. Molly goes on to work as a library assistant and then become pregnant by a wealthy man. Years later, Molly's daughter Ruth sets out to discover more about her ancestors and goes "on a journey that brings the novel full circle," as noted by a reviewer writing in Publishers Weekly. Once again many reviewers commented on the author's outstanding writing skills. Donna Seaman, writing a review of Consequences in Booklist, called the author "a superb stylist inspired by a curiosity about history that only empathy and the imagination can illuminate." Maureen Neville wrote in the Library Journal that "this story pulls the reader along with captivating characters whose lives seem achingly familiar."

Lively has also received acclaim for her short stories, such as The Five Thousand and One Nights, in which she "slyly exploits and explodes expectations by transforming seemingly foolish courses of action into clever strategies," as noted by Donna Seaman in Booklist. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "the circumstances and the responses of the characters give them [the stories] their snap.

In her innovative collection of eight short stories, Making It Up, Lively intersects autobiography and fiction in tales "that examine real moments in her life and then taking a ‘what if’ approach she explores the possibilities of what could have happened," according to Mostly Fiction Web site contributor Guy Savage. The author first recalls an event from her life and then presents a story of what might have occurred if she had made a different decision or if matters had somehow turned out differently. For example, in "Comet," the author writes a tale about a woman named Sarah Low who is notified that the body of her sister, Penelope, has been found after she disappeared decades earlier, last seen on a plane from Egypt to London. "Making It Up is a playful, and yet still intensely moving collection of stories that examine fate, the resolutions of experience and capricious chance," wrote Savage. Donna Seaman commented in Booklist: "Each beautifully crafted tale grapples with questions of heredity … and freedom as characters face collisions between expectations and reality."

A Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor remarked: "Over the course of her career Penelope Lively has produced an astonishing quantity of well-crafted, sometimes brilliant work." The contributor went on to write: "The structural complexity of her texts is matched by their intellectual and moral rigor: seldom possessed of neat resolutions, her adult novels in particular tend to illustrate her view that ‘I have never come to terms with life, and I wouldn't wish anyone else to do so; if fiction is to help at all in the process of living, it is by illuminating its conflicts and ambiguities.’"

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Children's Literature Review, Volume 7, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1984.

Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 32, 1985, Volume 50, 1989.

Dictionary of Literary Biography, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 14: British Novelists Since 1960, 1983, Volume 161: British Children's Writers since 1960, 1996, Volume 207: British Novelists since 1960, Third Series, 1999.

Egoff, Sheila A., Thursday's Child: Trends and Patterns in Contemporary Children's Literature, American Library Association (Chicago, IL), 1981.

Ellis, Alec, and Marcus Crouch, editors, Chosen for Children: An Account of the Books Which Have Been Awarded the Library Association Carnegie Medal, 1936-1975, 3rd edition, American Library Association (Chicago, IL), 1977.

Lively, Penelope, A House Unlocked, Viking (New York, NY), 2001.

Lively, Penelope, Oleander, Jacaranda: A Childhood Perceived, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

Moran, Mary Hurley, Penelope Lively, Twayne (New York, NY), 1993.

Rees, David, The Marble in the Water: Essays on Contemporary Writers of Fiction for Children and Young Adults, Horn Book (Boston, MA), 1980, pp. 185-198.

St. James Guide to Children's Writers, 5th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Townsend, John Rowe, A Sounding of Storytellers: New and Revised Essays on Contemporary Writers for Children, Lippincott (New York, NY), 1979.

PERIODICALS

Belles Lettres, spring, 1992, review of Next to Nature, Art, p. 26; spring, 1994, Julie J. Nichols, review of Cleopatra's Sister.

Booklist, March 15, 1994, Donna Seaman, review of Oleander, Jacaranda, p. 1322; June 1, 1995, Carolyn Phelan, review of Good Night, Sleep Tight, p. 1787; August, 1996, Donna Seaman, review of Heat Wave, p. 1854; June 1, 1997, Donna Seaman, review of The Five Thousand and One Nights, p. 1660; October 15, 2000, Karen Harris, review of Spiderweb, p. 471; March 1, 2002, Donna Seaman, review of A House Unlocked, p. 1084; May 1, 2003, review of The Photograph, p. 1580; April 15, 2007, Donna Seaman, review of Consequences, p. 34; May 1, 2007, Donna Seaman, review of The Photograph, p. 1580.

Book Report, March, 2002, review of In Search of a Homeland: The Story of the Aeneid, p. 69.

Bookseller, July 22, 2005, review of Making It Up, p. 10.

Books for Keeps, November, 2001, review of In Search of a Homeland, p. 27; January, 2002, review of The Driftway, p. 22.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June, 1999, review of One, Two, Three, Jump!, p. 358.

Chicago Tribune Book World, May 15, 1988, review of Moon Tiger, p. 8.

Children's Bookwatch, January, 2002, review of In Search of a Homeland, p. 1.

Encounter, May, 1981, review of Judgment Day, p. 90.

Entertainment Weekly, November 4, 2005, Jennifer Reese, review of Making It Up, p. 79.

Financial Times, July 14, 2007, Isabel Berwick, review of Consequences, p. 40.

Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), October 6, 2001, review of A House Unlocked, p. D23.

Horn Book, June, 1973, review of The Driftway, p. 271; March, 1999, Betsy Hearne, "Across the Ages: Penelope Lively's Fiction for Children and Adults," p. 164; fall, 1999, review of One, Two, Three, Jump!, p. 237.

International Fiction Review, January, 2001, Nora Foster Stovel, review of Spiderweb, p. 115.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 1999, review of Spiderweb, p. 170; February 1, 2002, review of A House Unlocked, p. 161; April 1, 2003, review of The Photograph, p. 498; September 1, 2005, review of Making It Up, p. 959.

Library Journal, November 1, 1997, review of Heat Wave, p. 130; October 1, 1999, Richard Oloizia, review of Spiderweb, p. 160; April 1, 2002, Ravi Shenoy, review of A House Unlocked, p. 129; April 1, 2003, review of The Photograph, p. 498; May 1, 2003, Barbara Love, review of The Photograph, p. 156; October 1, 2005, Barbara Love, review of Making It Up, p. 67; April 15, 2007, Maureen Neville, review of Consequences, p. 74.

Listener, August 4, 1977, John Mellors, review of The Road to Lichfield, p. 158.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 25, 1999, review of Spiderweb, p. 23.

New Statesman, January 20, 2003, Amanda Craig, review of The Photograph, p. 51.

New Statesman and Society, April 12, 1991, Carole Angier, review of City of the Mind, p. 35; April 23, 1993, Janet Barron, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 33; June 3, 1994, Patricia Craig, review of Oleander, Jacaranda, p. 44.

New Yorker, November 18, 1991, review of City of the Mind, p. 134; June 14, 1993, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 99.

New York Times, August 5, 2003, Michiko Kakutani, "The Perils of Happening upon on a Snapshot," p. 1.

New York Times Book Review, April 17, 1988, Anne Tyler, review of Moon Tiger, p. 9; May 21, 1989, review of Pack of Cards, p. 13; February 11, 1990, review of Passing On, p. 12; February 17, 1991, review of The Road to Lichfield, p. 7; September 1, 1991, review of City of the Mind, p. 6; April 25, 1993, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 7; June 12, 1994, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 48; June 11, 1995, review of Good Night, Sleep Tight, p. 43; March 3, 1996, "Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter," p. 25; October 12, 1997, Claire Messud, "Boring the Sultan," July 20, 2003, Valerie Martin, "Blowup," review of The Photograph, p. 6; April 11, 1999, review of The Road to Lichfield and Pack of Cards, p. 40; May 9, 1999, Margot Livesey, review of Spiderweb; December 4, 2005, Roxana Robinson, "My Life as It Wasn't," review of Making It Up, p. 63; June 24, 2007, Nancy Kline, "History Intrudes," review of Consequences, p. 22.

Observer, April 25, 1993, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 63; November 14, 1999, review of Spiderweb, p. 15; August 26, 2001, review of A House Unlocked, p. 16.

People, July 25, 1994, Joseph Olshan, review of Oleander, Jacaranda, p. 26; January 13, 1997, Joanne Kaufman, review of Heat Wave, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, November 13, 1987, Viveinne Menkes, "Penelope Lively's ‘Moon Tiger’ Wins 1987 Booker Prize," p. 9; February 12, 1988, review of Moon Tiger, p. 71; March 25, 1988, Amanda Smith, "Penelope Lively" (interview with author), p. 47; February 3, 1989, Jay Parini, review of Pack of Cards, p. 97; December 1, 1989, review of Passing On, p. 48; November 23, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Road to Lichfield, p. 56; June 21, 1991, review of City of the Mind, p. 53; February 8, 1993, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 76; March 7, 1994, review of Oleander, Jacaranda, p. 61; March 14, 1994, review of The Cat, the Crow, and the Banyan Tree, p. 73; April 10, 1995, review of Good Night, Sleep Tight, p. 61; May 26, 1997, review of The Five Thousand and One Nights, p. 68; February 1, 1999, review of Spiderweb, p. 72; March 15, 1999, review of One, Two, Three, Jump!, p. 56; March 4, 2002, review of A House Unlocked, p. 67; May 12, 2003, review of The Photograph, p. 41; August 15, 2005, review of Making It Up, p. 53; March 19, 2007, review of Consequences, p. 36.

San Jose Mercury News, June 17, 2003, Charles Matthews, review of The Photograph.

School Library Journal, February, 1988, Susan L., review of A House Inside Out, p. 73; May, 1994, review of The Cat, the Crow, and the Banyan Tree, p. 99; June, 1995, review of Good Night, Sleep Tight, p. 91; February, 1999, review of Spiderweb, p. 72; March 15, 1999, review of One, Two, Three, Jump!, p. 56; July, 1999, review of One, Two, Three, Jump!, p. 76.

Seattle Times, July 10, 2003, review of The Photograph.

Spectator, November 22, 1980, review of Judgment Day, p. 24; May 23, 1987, Francis King, review of Moon Tiger, p. 48; September 1, 2001, review of A House Unlocked, p. 35; August 6, 2005, Olivia Glazebrook, "Cleopatra's Nose Again," review of Making It Up, p. 34; July 7, 2007, "The Good Ended Happily," review of Consequences.

Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia), May 31, 2003, Peter Craven, review of The Photograph.

Time, May 2, 1988, Martha Duffy, review of Moon Tiger, p. 72.

Times Educational Supplement, September 10, 1999, review of The House in Norham Gardens, p. 31.

Times Literary Supplement, July 14, 1972, review of The Driftway, p. 812; April 6, 1973, review of The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, p. 380; July 16, 1976, Ann Thwait, review of A Stitch in Time, p. 885; November 21, 1980, review of Judgment Day, p. 1313; May 23, 1986, review of A Stitch in Time, p. 574; October 17, 1986, review of Pack of Cards, p. 1168; May 15, 1987, J.K.L. Walker, review of Moon Tiger, p. 515; April 7, 1989, review of Passing On, p. 363; April 23, 1993, review of Cleopatra's Sister, p. 22; May 24, 1996, Aisling Foster, review of Heat Wave, p. 27; November 9, 2001, review of A House Unlocked, p. 25.