Children's author eats reindeer for research

[Guest guest]

Hi group, since there's been a topic line about eating raw meat, I thought

this article might interest some members who find it difficult to consider

eating meat raw. I copied the entire article because it's from a British

news site that requires membership. Hope that was okay.

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Children's author eats reindeer for research

(Filed: 05/09/2004)

After winning a £2.8m advance for her children's books, Paver talks

to Day about the joys of research - every last mouthful - and the

inevitable comparisons to J.K. Rowling

Paver is explaining what a slice of raw seal's liver tastes like.

" It is surprisingly easy to get down you, like jelly, but firm and without

much of a taste. It was like raw pig's liver, if you've ever eaten that. "

She pauses a moment. " Although I suppose there's no reason why you would

have. "

Last week, Paver's first children's book, Wolf Brother, a 215-page adventure

set 6,000 years ago, was published to a maelstrom of publicity surrounding

her £2.8 million advance on a six-book deal.

If her publishers, Orion, have their way, soon every child in Great Britain

will be clamouring for raw seal's liver in place of their normal fish

fingers.

Paver, 43, however, remains remarkably sanguine, despite inevitably being

christened " the new J.K. Rowling " .

The author of the best-selling Harry Potter books has amassed a £65 million

fortune since the publication of her first book in 1997 and similar success

has been predicted for Paver.

" I don't think about the amount of money, " Paver says, admitting that she

has no idea how to spend it other than on inspiring research holidays.

" Perhaps I'm naive. I'm most aware of the pressure that it will put on my

time - all the PR, the interviews and the book tours.

" I actually carry a little picture of a wolf in my wallet, rather like

people carry a picture of their kids. The reason I do that is to remind

myself why I'm doing this, to remind myself of the story.

" I don't mind the Harry Potter comparison. It is flattering to be mentioned

on the same platform and I like all the books very much, but there's no

sense of being in competition. It's not a race. The only thing we have in

common is that both our protagonists are young boys. Harry Potter is

fantasy - brilliant fantasy - whereas Wolf Brother is reality. Everything in

the book could have happened. "

While the money has not (yet) changed her life, it has bought her enough

time to concentrate exclusively on what Paver terms " the project " - a

six-book cycle called The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, detailing the

adventures of Torak, a 12-year-old hunter-gatherer who is responsible for

ridding the forest of evil demons after his father is killed by a bear.

Paver's own father, a South African journalist and publisher who moved to

Britain with his Belgian wife when Paver was three, died of cancer after a

five-year struggle with the illness in 1996, just before his daughter got

her first book deal.

" I don't think it's coincidence that I started the book with the death of

Torak's father, " she says. " I didn't do it for the money. I know a lot of

people say that, but if I'd wanted to be rich I'd have stayed working as a

city lawyer. I gave that up eight years ago and took a massive drop in

salary and I didn't mind because I was doing what I loved. There's plenty of

material for the other five books. "

It is material that Paver has painstakingly gleaned from years of research

and fact-finding excursions to Scandinavia.

She reads extensively on animal behaviour and anthropology, and puts to good

use her training as a biochemist, which she studied at Oxford University

before switching to law several years later.

Her passion for the Stone Age, however, stems from her own childhood in

Wimbledon, south-west London, where she still lives, and the willingness of

her parents to let her " take risks while instilling in me the common sense

not to take too many " .

She explains: " I once bought a whole rabbit when I was 10. You could do it

in the butcher's in Wimbledon in those days. I went into the shop and they

must have thought it was a bit weird seeing this young girl ordering a

rabbit. It was a white rabbit with its fur on. I was a bit annoyed that the

entrails had been taken out. But I skinned the thing in my dad's garage and

I hung it up and rubbed it with salt to cure it.

" I don't think you could do that kind of thing now, and that's a shame, " she

says. " I don't want to opine too much, but there does seem to be a lot more

concern about safety, a greater awareness of abduction and that sort of

thing. Whether there is in fact more of it - and there probably isn't - we

read more about it in the news. Perhaps the current popularity of children's

fiction is a means of escapism for the child who can't do those things in

real life. "

Paver, however, is determined to see and do as much as possible to give her

Stone-Age characters " authenticity " .

As one of the main narrative voices is provided by a wolf, this gave rise to

some unorthodox methods. " I have occasionally put up my head to howl, " she

admits.

" Luckily for the neighbours, because it's a little terraced house, I didn't

actually howl, but I did act it out in my mind. "

On a trip to Greenland last September, she rode on horseback for 12 hours a

day, slept on reindeer hides and ate a whole array of unthinkable dishes.

" Reindeer heart is surprisingly delicious, " she says matter-of-factly.

" Reindeer tongue is a bit fatty and oily. Elk's hoof soup is a bit gluey.

Spruce resin tasted like cough syrup. "

This quest for accurate historical detail has, Paver readily concedes, more

or less taken over her life. She has never married and, although she is

being touted as the next great children's author, has never had children of

her own.

" I didn't wake up one day and think I'm not going to have children, " she

says. " My mother was a housewife and brought up three children, so I just

thought it would happen.

" But then I grew up and I had a career in law and then I started writing and

it was never really a pressing need. My thirties merged into my forties and

I sort of gradually realised that I don't really want children. Now I'm glad

I don't have them. Part of that is because I have my books. "

Nor does she consciously write for children. " I don't have a particular

audience in mind. I certainly don't use more straightforward language; if

anything, I'm probably writing the books for myself when I was 10. "

If the pre-publication reaction is anything to go by, there are a lot of

10-year-old Pavers out there.

" I sort of had an inkling it was going to be OK when my best friend's son,

, who is eight, read an advance copy and I was quite nervous because

children are honest, they can't lie, " she says.

" And if he'd just written me a postcard saying: 'It was lovely, I enjoyed

it,' I would have thought: 'Oh no.' But he wrote me three pages and he said:

'I loved this bit and I really liked this bit and I loved the high emotion

here.' And he ended it: 'And if you'd like me to look at the second book,

I'd be delighted.' "