Today

Author Miller is a literary agent, which, you might think, is rather helpful when you are trying to get your debut novel published.

At just 160 pages, it is more a short story than a full-length novel, and the plot is minimal. A famous writer dies, and his fractured family deal with their grief in various different ways. What follows is a quiet, muted musing on loss, guilt and family relationships. In fact though Miller hints at further plot-lines that could have been developed – the suicide, years ago, of the deceased’s secretary’s brother; the close relationship between said secretary and youngest son John – these are not developed.

While Miller loyally follows that sage piece of advice given to most new writers – to show and not tell – at times he goes too far, leading to confusing or unclear pieces of dialogue that must be re-read, or leaving the reader unsatisfied at the end of the book, with questions that have not been answered.

Nevertheless Miller is clearly a skilled writer and it will be interesting to see if his career as a novelist can match his success as an agent.