Look out for Penelope Lively’s new book, The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories.

Hailed by critics as a benchmark in a career full of award-winning achievements, Making It Up is Penelope Lively’s answer to the oft-asked question, How much of what you write comes from your own life? What if Lively hadn’t escaped from Egypt, her birthplace, at the outbreak of World War II? What would her life have been like if she’d married someone else? From a hillside in Italy to an archaeological dig, the author explores the stories that could have been hers, fashioning a sublime dance between reality and imagination that confirms her reputation as a singular talent.