THE HOLLOW TREE is to be published in 2024.
THE GOLDENACRE (2022) (Polygon/Soho Crime)
ALL THE GALAXIES (2017) (Freight/Allen and Unwin)
‘Philip Miller takes the reader’s imagination, re-tunes it, and makes it run faster and farther than you ever thought it could. He re-defines God, while keeping the eternal struggle as blood, sweat and tears as ever….don’t look for answers, don’t expect conclusions. But do expect to feel a little bereft and to want much more of the same when you reach the end of this all consuming novel.’
Book of the Month – The Scot Magazine.
‘A wonderful mix of dystopia and supernatural, full of enough twists and turns to make sure the reader is always guessing what’s going to happen next. Yet for all its weirdness, at its core, this is a truly life-affirming tale of loss and love.’
Dundee Courier
‘Philip Miller is both an accomplished storyteller and philosopher… This dynamic novel engages the reader on many levels, from its foundation of masterfully drawn, evocative prose to the metaphysical questions raised as the narrative unfolds… All the Galaxies is worth your time. It will warm your heart, challenge your preconceived notions…’
Mulberry Fork Review
‘This bold second novel is impressive in scale and ambition, and yet, despite the big questions it asks about life, death and the universe, it never fails to remain grounded in moving, intimate portraits of a father’s love for his son, a mother’s strained relationship with parenthood and a grown child’s desire to reject what we understand to be death. Strange, funny, poignant and dark, this is a story that imagines a demonic world not so removed from the one we now live in. Miller marches unapologetically across dimensions and genres to a thrilling ending, or terrifying beginning, making me wonder where on earth will he lead us next?’
Jackie Copleton, author of A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding
‘A Chagall painting of a book, visionary, apocalyptic but strangely warm, with a strong watermark of love and a moral heart. From a half-ruined Glasgow to a lost galaxy in space, a father looks for his son and a son looks for his mother: it is impossible to sum up all the nuances of this story. An unmissable adventure with a Scottish soul and universal meaning, written between prose and poetry. And it made me cry.’
Daniela Sacerdoti, author of Watch Over Me and Take Me Home
‘A riveting tale set in an entirely plausible future Glasgow. Elegant and enthralling. A wonderful read’
Denise Mina
‘All the Galaxies gives us a vivid image of dystopian Scotland, then adds to it the rush of intergalactic flight, the devil, mass murder, some luminous jellyfish, and a poignant portrayal of a struggling single father. That is to say, it is unsettling and uncommon and darkly atmospheric, with disarming flashes of hope and beauty.’
Helen Sedgwick, author of The Comet Seekers
‘a novel of intermittent brilliance… Miller is a writer of evident and very considerable talent’
The Scotsman
‘It’s dark, it’s mysterious, it’s humorous, it’s thought provoking and its poignant….it’s a stunning book, it takes you on quite a journey.’ Grant Stott, BBC Radio Scotland
‘With such a messy backdrop being the current norm for many places around the world, Philip Miller’s dystopian take acts as a comment on the fragile nature of the social order, forcing us to consider the careful but unpredictable balance at play in our societies.’ List
THE BLUE HORSE (2015) (Freight)
‘Some passages have a clear, fragmented beauty…We see perplexing works of art, intricate landscapes and a sensitive portrait of a man who is trying to turn his life around. This is more than enough.’
The Herald
‘The Blue Horse itself stands for something altogether more subtle, a symbol of both the fleetingness of life and its precise opposite, the ability of great art to hold back time….His portrait of George Newhouse, the art historian half-blinded by grief and drink, is well done, and that strange place, the art world, is brought convincingly to life. An impressive debut.’
David Robinson, Scotland on Sunday
‘Sharp and pellucid’
Scottish Review of Books
‘There were times in Philip Miller’s The Blue Horse when I had to look away from the twilight art world his lyrical prose so effectively eviscerates. There is a tremendous sense of darkness here. And yet his strength as a storyteller, his ability to create multiple narratives of greed and grief; of blurred desire, pulled me back. There is an intoxication about this writing, a narcotic lure to its descriptions of ambition and decline but it never strays far from the simple art of a good story well told.’
– Toni Davidson, author of Scar Culture and My Gun Was As Tall As Me
‘The Blue Horse is the title of a lost Dutch masterpiece by Pieter Van Doelenstraat — although there are some experts who claim that it never existed. George Newhouse is the newly appointed director of an Edinburgh art gallery on a mission to discover the truth about the painting. At the same time he is trying to recover from the death of his wife. While it might sound like a bit of a crazy mix, this book is successful on both levels: as an extremely closely observed account of the shallow absurdities of the international art scene and a raw rendition of how ugly the effects of deep loss can be. And, as we witness the descent of the young curator into drugs and casual depravity, the author succeeds in keeping us gripped by our wish for Newhouse to survive and to know why the truth about the painting matters so much.’
Daily Mail
‘At its heart, The Blue Horse exquisitely evokes the pain we feel when we lose love. It is a surreal tale of the relationship between men and women… and art… What else is there?’
Alison Watt, artist
‘The Blue Horse is a book that refuses to be classified – it is a genre of its own, born of a visionary imagination and beautiful, beautiful writing. The mystery of a cursed painting is wrapped around a man who is mourning the loss of his wife. We see a choreography, a dance, between the man and the painting, and in that dance the dead wife and the promise of a new love are dragged in and entangled. To me, this is the story of a soul tethering between despair/hell and salvation, written in a way that goes from dry, hard, sparse, nearly cruel, to heartbreakingly poetic (a lock of the beloved wife wrapped around her ear like seaweed around a shell). It’s clear to see that Miller is a poet, because he uses sounds and words to create rhythm, and he exploits repetition in a way I have never seen before. His love of art is everywhere, and I can feel he thinks in colour – I kept thinking of Gaudi, Goya, flashes of German expressionism and sweet Chagall, up to a conclusion that reminded of William Blake. The story frightened me. It really did. Because the places of dismay touched in the book are so real, they make you wonder if the fantastical parts might be real too. I think that The Blue Horse is a genre in itself – unique and honest, without trying to be anything else than what it is. Don’t rush it – savour the language – you’ll find yourself on a journey much like Dante’s, hoping that at the end there will be stars.’
Daniela Sacerdoti, author of Watch Over Me, Take Me Home and Set Me Free
‘The Blue Horse displays Philip Miller’s excellent ability to tell a dark and sinister story with a writing style which is multi-dimensional and a protagonist drawn with depth and realism. The novel is filled with intriguing parallels between its main and sub plots which make for an exciting and very worthwhile read.’
DURA magazine
‘What swept me along with the book was that it was a terrific description of grief… It’s quite visceral, there’s quite a lot sex, of drunkenness, of people behaving badly, I thought: this is great. There are very funny moments… George Newhouse just leapt off the page for me.’
Janice Forsyth, BBC Radio Scotland
‘Dark and atmospheric, this much anticipated novel [is] set in the art world’ [****]
Scottish Field
‘Tersely written, darkly atmospheric’
Scottish Review
The Blue Horse was tipped as one of the three Scottish books to read in 2015 on BBC Scotland Culture Studio.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ws7kc
and here I am discussing The Blue Horse on the Culture Studio, BBC Scotland.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0543c2c