Lovric, Michelle 1959–

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Lovric, Michelle 1959–

PERSONAL: Born 1959, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, A.M. Heath, 6 Warwick Ct., London, WC1R 5DJ, England. E-mail—michelle@lovric.demon.co.uk.

CAREER: Writer and anthologist.

AWARDS, HONORS: London Arts Writer's Award.

WRITINGS:

(Compiler) Birds: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1992.

(Compiler) Cats: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1992.

(Compiler) Love: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1992.

(Compiler) Women: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1993.

(Compiler) Seasons: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1993.

(Compiler) Mothers: An Illustrated Treasury of Motherhood, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1993.

(Compiler) Friends: An Illustrated Treasury of Friendship, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1993.

(Compiler) Christmas: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1994.

(Compiler) Horses: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1994.

(Compiler) Kittens: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1994.

(Compiler) Love Letters: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1994.

(Adaptor) James Beresford, The Miseries of Human Life, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(Compiler) Roses: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1995.

(Creator of original scrapbook) Maggie Philo, Victorian Christmas: Sourcebook with 10 Projects, photography by Debbie Patterson, Welcome Rain Books (New York, NY), 1995.

(Compiler) The Countryside: An Illustrated Treasury, Courage Books (Philadelphia, PA), 1995.

Love Letters: An Anthology of Passion, Shooting Star Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Nikiforos Doxiadis Mardas) The Sweetness of Honey and the Sting of Bees: A Book of Love from the Ancient Mediterranean, Stewart, Tabori & Chang (New York, NY), 1997.

(Compiler) Deadlier Than the Male: Dangerously Witty Quotations by Women about Men, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

(Compiler) Woman to Woman: Letters to Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Friends, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 1998.

(With Nikiforos Doxiadis Mardas) How to Insult, Abuse, & Insinuate in Classical Latin, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor) Bleeding Hearts: Love Poems for the Nervous & Highly Strung, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(With Lea Chambers) Latin Stuff & Nonsense, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 1999.

Carpaccio's Cat, illustrated by Geoffrey Appleton, Artisan (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Mimma Balia) Ruskin's Rose: A Venetian Love Story, collages by Ann Field, Artisan (New York, NY), 2000.

(Compiler) Cats Behaving Badly: An Anthology of Feline Misdemeanors, illustrated by Lynne Cur-ran, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor) Weird Wills & Eccentric Last Wishes, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor) Eccentric Epitaphs: Gaffes from beyond the Grave, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 2000.

Carnevale (novel), Virago (London, England), 2001.

Cleopatra's Face: Fatal Beauty, Field Museum (Chicago, IL), 2001.

Women's Wicked Wit: From Jane Austen to Roseanne Barr, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2002.

(Selector and author of introduction) The Virago Book of Christmas, Virago (London, England), 2002.

Love.Bytes: 10,000 Romantic Email Postcards for Him and Her, Duncan Baird (London, England), 2002.

Insult and Curse Book, Prion Books (London, England), 2002.

The Floating Book (novel), Regan Books (New York, NY), 2003.

(Compiler, with assistance from Irving Y. Lo) Oriental Love Poems, Andrews McMeel (Kansas City, MO), 2003.

Venice: Tales of the City, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Jenny Quickfall) How to Seduce, Pleasure, & Titillate in Classical Latin, Barnes & Noble (New York, NY), 2004.

How to Write Love Letters, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2004.

(Compiler and Editor) The World's Greatest Letters: From Ancient Greece to the Twentieth Century, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Women's Wicked Wisdom, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2004.

More Women's Wicked Wit, Carlton Books (London, England), 2005.

The Remedy: A Novel of London and Venice, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2005.

(Compiler) Cats and Their Slaves: An Anthology of Worship, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2006.

Also editor of over 100 anthologies and gift books.

SIDELIGHTS: Michelle Lovric shuttles between her homes in London and Venice, a city that receives a great deal of attention in several of her books. Lovric commented in an interview on the Virago Publishers Web site that since reading her first book, she knew she wanted to be a writer. Having published several novels and edited or compiled numerous anthologies, Lovric has done just that.

Among the books she has compiled is Victorian Christmas: Sourcebook with 10 Projects. Lovric created the original Victorian scrapbook used in the various projects the book presents. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly said Lovric's portfolio was "appealingly designed." Lovric both edited and compiled The World's Greatest Letters: From Ancient Greece to the Twentieth Century. This collection includes everything from Virginia Woolfe's suicide letter to her husband to an account of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius as recorded by Pliny. Jan Brue Enright reviewed this book in Library Journal and took notice of "the importance of letter writing in telling the story of individuals in history."

In 2001, Lovric penned her first novel, Carnevale. Cecilia, the protagonist, is the artistic daughter of an eighteenth-century Venetian merchant. She leads a passionate life full of food, drink, and lovers, who include the infamous Casanova and Lord Byron. "In Lovric's collation of narrative, recipes, letters, and inventories, [Venice] overflows with pungent smells, strange noises and the fading decadence of a magical city," noted Melissa Katsoulis in the London Times. Other reviewers also praised the novel. Janet Mary Tomson, writing in the Historical Novels Review, pointed out that Lovric "has a gift for the poetic that captures the heightened state of Cecilia's emotions," concluding that the book is "very readable" and "enjoyable."

Lovric's second novel, The Floating Book, was published in 2003. The story takes place in fifteenth-century Venice and concerns that city's early printing press business. A number of the characters are actual historical figures, ranging from witchcraft-practicing nuns to debauched scribes. Kristine Huntley, writing in Booklist, praised the "vibrant cast of characters" in this "big, lush novel." A reviewer in Publishers Weekly complimented Lovric's "eye for sensual detail, conveying the sights and smells of the city's markets and palazzi." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews summed up The Floating Book by commenting that it was "maddeningly over the top and self-important, but as seductive as Venice."

The Remedy: A Novel of London and Venice is set in eighteenth-century Venice and London and centers around the relations between a Venetian noblewoman and the leader of London's medical underworld. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that "despite the merciless plot twists, Lovric's real fascination is with the cities she describes in loving if endless detail." Leah Greenblatt, writing in Entertainment Weekly, also took note of the amount of detail and overall density of the book, stating that some readers might develop a "serious case of literary indigestion." However, Kristine Huntley in Booklist lauded Lovric as a "gifted novelist," and concluded that The Remedy is "historical fiction at its finest."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2003, Kristine Huntley, review of The Floating Book, p. 580; November 15, 2005, Kristine Huntley, review of The Remedy: A Novel of London and Venice, p. 27.

Bookwatch, September, 2005, review of Venice: Tales of the City.

Entertainment Weekly, November 25, 2005, Leah Greenblatt, review of The Remedy, p. 108.

Historical Novels Review, December, 2001, Janet Mary Tomson, review of Carnevale.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2003, review of The Floating Book, p. 1247; November 15, 2005, review of The Remedy, p. 1207.

Library Journal, November 1, 2003, Kim Uden Rutter, review of The Floating Book, p. 124; September 1, 2004, Jan Brue Enright, review of The World's Greatest Letters: From Ancient Greece to the Twentieth Century, p. 151; January 1, 2006, Mary Kay Bird, review of The Remedy, p. 99.

New York Times, February 8, 1995, Mary B.W. Tabor, review of Love Letters: An Anthology of Passion.

Publishers Weekly, September 11, 1995, review of Victorian Christmas: Sourcebook with 10 Projects, p. 82; October 20, 2003, review of The Floating Book, p. 32; November 7, 2005, review of The Remedy, p. 55.

Times (London, England), July 3, 2002, Melissa Katsoulis, review of Carnevale.

Victoria Magazine, February, 1995, "Oh, What It Is to Love Like This!," review of Love Letters

Washington Post, January, 2004, Edward Docx, review of The Floating Book.