Helen Dunmore Books

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Helen Dunmore is a poet, children’s author, and award-winning novelist who made a name for herself for the breadth and depth of her literary works. She wrote intricate and rich works with a heartfelt yet deceptive simplicity that made her lyrical and fluid prose very popular. She has been writing since 1994.

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Dunmore launched her career with the novel “Zennor in Darkness”, a novel published in 1994 exploring the expulsion of D.H. Lawrence from Cornwall after he was suspected of espionage. Since the publication of her first work she went on to write many more novels, poems and children’s books that have won many top awards over the years.

HELEN DUNMORE AWARDS

Dunmore has been the recipient of many awards over the years right from the very first novel that she wrote in 1994. “Zennor in Darkness” won the McKitterick Prize in 1994 while “A Spell of Winter” made the shortlist for the Whitbread Novel of the Year and was the winner of the 1996 Orange Prize for Fiction. She was also shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize in 2015, the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and the Orwell Prize.

BEST HELEN DUNMORE BOOKS

Some of the most popular novels written by Helen Dunmore include the likes of:

The Crossing of Ingo: The novel tells the story of Sapphire and Connor whose father is lost to the World of Ingo. They just got news that their father drowned in the foreign land, but Sapphire and Connor are skeptical about the details of the story, or even that their father is really dead. Together with their mother, they struggle to survive without their father. They get a better understanding of Ingo when they become becomes friends with Elvira a mermaid from that world.

Connor and Sapphire soon enter into the world of Ingo where she soon learn that they have a strong connection with Ingo and the sea given their mixed heritage. Unlike her brother that is more in tune with the Earth and Air spirit, Sapphire is dominated by the Spirit of the Sea/Ingo. The more they stay in the new world the better they come to understand just what happened to their father. The man has founded a new mer family and seems to have totally forgotten about his earthly family. But now Connor and Sapphire are discovering their supernatural powers making for an interesting inter-familial narrative.

The Deep: The third novel of the Ingo series that may be read as a standalone novel. Dunmore writes a novel about a Sapphire a young girl that has an Air and Earth mixture in her human body. She is struggling to reconcile both of her sea, and earthly world which is quite the task. Her brother Connor is also conflicted though he has more of the Earth spirit rather than the Sea spirit of Sapphire his sister.

The story builds upon the events of the previous novels in describing Sapphires ability to travel to the depths of the sea. She travels to the depths to try to convince Kraken the mythical creature to stop tormenting the inhabitants of the sea and their abode, and rather go to sleep as he had done for centuries. Sapphire longs to go to the world of Ingo and depends on the help of Faro, a mer friend a playful, arrogant, and strong person that convinces her to make the new world her home. But Sapphire is torn between her love for her dog, her friends, and mother who are on Earth.

Tide Knot: Connor and Sapphire are trying to put their Ingo adventures behind them though they find that their mer heritage is very stron,g making the quest very hard. Sapphire spends most of her time living in town by the beach moping rather than in the more pleasant cove. But suddenly her father comes onto the scene to tell her that she needs to come with him to help him resolve a dangerous situation. She soon learns that a mystical entity known as the Tide Knot has been responsible for ensuring that the tides have not encroached on the land. But now the Knot has gone rogue and their hometown is in danger from the tides. She has to team up with her brother and go on a quest to save Ingo and the Air that they both hold dear.

When Does The Next Helen Dunmore book come out?

Helen Dunmore doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Girl, Balancing Other Stories and was released on March, 7th 2019. It is the newest book in the Helen Dunmore Short Story Collections.

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