Robert Edric (born 14 April 1956) is the pseudonym of Gary Edric Armitage, a British novelist born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. Nick Rennison has suggested that Edric might be "the finest and most adventurous writer of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

of his generation". His trilogy of detective novels, ''Cradle Song'', ''Siren Song'', and ''Swan Song'', also known as the "Song Cycle," are set in the city of Hull.

Works

* ''Winter Garden'' (1985) – winner, 1985 James Tait Black Award * ''A New Ice Age'' (1986) – runner up, 1986 Guardian Fiction Award * ''A Lunar Eclipse'' (1989) * ''In The Days of the American Museum'' (1990) * ''The Broken Lands'' (1992) * ''Hallowed Ground'' (1993) * ''The Earth Made of Glass'' (1994) * ''Elysium'' (1995) * ''In Desolate Heaven'' (1997) * ''The Sword Cabinet'' (1999) * ''The Book of the Heathen'' (2000) * ''Peacetime'' (2002) – long listed, 2002

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

* ''Cradle Song'' (2003) * ''Siren Song'' (2004) * ''Swan Song'' (2005) * ''The Mermaids'' (2006) * ''Gathering the Water'' (2006) – long listed, 2006 Man Booker Prize * ''The Kingdom of Ashes'' (2007) * ''In Zodiac Light'' (2008) * ''Salvage'' (2010) * ''The Lives of the Savages'' (2010) * ''The London Satyr'' (2011) * ''The Devil's Beat'' (2012) * ''The Monster's Lament'' (2013) * ''Sanctuary'' (2014) * ''Field Service'' (2015) * ''The Wrack Line'' (2016) * ''Mercury Falling'' (2018)

References

External links

Telegraph Arts article, July 2003

Guardian article, My Own Worst Enemy by Robert Edric review – immersive account of a 60s Sheffield boyhood, February 2022

Robert Edric Archive, University of East Anglia
1956 births Living people 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients English male novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Alumni of the University of Hull {{UK-novelist-stub