Lawrence Norfolk (1963-) is an author.
Life[]
Born in London in 1963, Norfolk spent most of his early childhood in Iraq. At the age of four, his family moved from Iraq back to England - specifically in the West Country. Norfolk was educated at the King's College in London and graduated in 1986. Before writing his debut novel, he worked as a teacher and a freelance writer for various reference book publishers.
In 1992, Norfolk published Lemprière's Dictionary. This debut novel won the Somserset Maugham Award and was followed five years later by The Pope's Rhinoceros. Norfolk's third novel (In the Shape of a Boar) was published four years later but it took twelve years for his fourth (and as of 2024, most recent) novel - John Saturnall's Feast - to be published.
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Writing style[]
Lawrence Norfolk largely writes historical fiction. His novels are known for complex plots and extremely intricate detail. Several reviewers have compared him to Thomas Pynchon and his debut novel was compared to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and the works of Charles Dickens.
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Notable works[]
- Lemprière's Dictionary - Norfolk's debut novel, on John Lemprière and his Classical Dictionary
- The Pope's Rhinoceros - a novel on the woodcarving of a rhinoceros produced by Albrecht Dürer
- In the Shape of a Boar - a novel which ties the life of a Jewish refugee with the legend of Atalanta
- John Saturnall's Feast - a novel about an orphan boy who becomes a chef
- Earthship (printed in Beacons: Stories For Our Not So Distant Future)
Sources[]
- Wikipedia
- Goodreads
- back cover of Lemprière's Dictionary