Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Inspiration

Ask Michelle Anything

Emily writes…

Hello!

I just wanted to say that this series, even as a 24 year old, holds the biggest place in my heart. I have never felt so immersed into a world before. I read these when I was very young, and have re-read them so, so many times since. Young me always dreamt of living in the woods, exploring, gathering and obviously having a friend Wolf to be with. These books made me feel at home, as unusual at that may sound.

In the last year or so, I have recently thought about attempting to write a book. I have been an avid reader my entire life. I want to thank you for kickstarting my reading passion with your Wolf Brother book. I don't think I will ever find the magic again as I did reading them. I wanted to ask, what inspired you to write this series? And what made you decide to set it around 4000BC? I find the age absolutely fascinating, and I've never seen it done anywhere else in a book I've come across so far.

Thank you so much for inspiring me to push myself to give something new a go. I may ask you a few questions in the future about how you helped gather the information and culture inspiration for these books, as I saw you took several trips throughout Europe to explore these cultures, which is absolutely amazing.

Michelle Replies…

Dear Emily, what a delightful message.  I’m so glad that you continue to enjoy my books – and particularly that they’ve inspired you to think about writing yourself. Your question about inspiration is tricky to answer, because usually I can only work that out long after I’ve written a story, by trying to see what in the past may have fed into it.  If you go to the wolfbrother.com website and into the Cave, there’s a section called Why I Wrote Wolf Brother in which I give more details; but the bottom line is that most stories come from the unconscious, so their origins are always a bit mysterious!

Choosing the period in which to set the story is easier.  My original idea was simply for a story about a boy, a wolf, a girl and a bear, set in a huge forest.  As for when to set it, I considered three options: the near future, after some sort of global catastrophe had destroyed civilisation; the present; or the distant past. It took about five minutes to ditch the first two and go for the distant past, and another two minutes to go for the Stone Age – probably because as a child I’d been entranced by a wonderful book on the archaeology of Stone Age hunter-gatherers in my father’s study (although I didn’t remember it at the time).  An afternoon’s research suggested the Mesolithic, and to begin with I set Wolf Brother seven thousand years ago; but more research revealed that at that time the Scandinavian coast had been inundated by a sort of tsunami – so I swiftly moved things along a thousand years, and the tsunami became the Great Wave, a distant memory of the clans!  Also, six thousand years ago worked well, because the people of my chosen area were still living as hunter-gatherers, and the neolithic way of life, ie farming, hadn’t yet reached them, unlike in most other parts of northern Europe.  So this kept things simple.

Thank you so much for getting in touch.  I hope you continue to enjoy Torak’s world, and good luck with your own writing!  With best wishes, Michelle

 

 


Upcoming Live Events With Michelle

Incredible… Inspiring… In Person!

Only 49 days to grab your ticket!

Wimbledon Book Festival

October 17, 2025
Festival patron and Sunday Times bestselling author Michelle Paver will talk about her latest supernatural fiction in this live recording with Always Take Notes, a podcast for and about writers and writing.

Michelle will discuss her incredible career, from finding inspiration for Wolf Brother on Wimbledon Common to her latest novel Rainforest, which weaves Mayan culture with themes of obsession, gender and rebirth.

Only 52 days to grab your ticket!

The Witching Hour with Bridget Collins, Michelle Paver and Laura Shepherd-Robinson – Waterstones Canterbury

October 20, 2025

Join Bridget Collins, Michelle Paver and Laura Sheperd-Robinson as they discuss their stories in a brand new collection of ghostly tales called The Witching Hour.

In this dazzling collection of original haunted tales, thirteen bestselling and much-loved authors bring the old superstition of the witching hour to new and vivid life.
Transporting you from the smog of London to the freezing mists of Svalbard, from an Irish town riddled with rumour to a sinister English boarding school, these thirteen stories will serve as your spine tingling companion to the long hours of winter.
So curl up, light a candle, and wait for the clock to strike . . .
Only 57 days to grab your ticket!

Yeovil Literary Festival

October 25, 2025

An experience like no other. From a writer like no other...

Successfully published as an adult author, the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness (“Wolf Brother”) were her first books for younger readers, followed by her brilliant 5-part series set in the bronze age, Gods and Warriors. On the adult side, her first ghost story, Dark Matter, was a UK bestseller and won massive praise from reviewers and readers alike, as did her second ghost story, Thin Air.

Oxford Literary Festival 2026

March 29, 2026

The Oxford Literary Festival takes place in venues across central Oxford, such as Blackwell's bookshop, the Bodleian Library, the Sheldonian Theatre, the Weston Library, and Oxford colleges such as Christ Church and Worcester College. The festival includes international authors, journalists, intellectuals, historians, and poets.