Question

Ask Michelle Anything

Jill writes…

I have read "Wakenhyrst", "Thin Air" and "Dark Matter". I love them. I have a question about "Dark Matter". The main character can't afford to take a bath. I am curious about this. Did that mean he did not have running water in his flat? Or was soap too expensive for him? Thanks for your time.

Michelle Replies…

I’m so glad you like the books, Jill.  This is a great question.  Jack only rents a room and it doesn’t have running water, so to keep clean he has to go to a public bath-house, which he can only afford once a week.  (In between he probably relies on a jug and basin in his room, if his landlady allows him to fill it in her kitchen.)  Other tenants of furnished rooms at that time might have had landladies who did provided a communal bathroom for all their tenants, but in the interests of economy, landladies generally limited them to one or two baths per week, and often imposed rules, such as only two inches of water per bath.  It makes one realise how lucky most of us are to have access to hot water,  and increases our sympathy for those who still don’t.  Thanks for your question – and I hope you enjoy Rainforest when it comes out next year.  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.