Miranda Miller – författare

"Miranda Miller’s novel, a first-person account of the life of the 18th-century Swiss neoclassical painter Angelica Kauffman, faithfully reflects the career of the somewhat overlooked founding member of the Royal Academy… A fascinating life and a fine painter in what’s a story well told by Miller."- Morning StarAngelica Kaufman is so successful that when she comes to England as a young woman in 1766 a word is coined: Angelicamad.‘Miller’s intricate fictions are lit by the dark flicker of a strong and original imagination.’ – Hilary MantelThis sparky, true life novel tells the life story of a woman who battled misogyny to become one of the greatest artists of the Enlightenment Period. After fifteen triumphant years in London, she flees to Italy following the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots.In Rome, as an old lady, a lively young artist and model names Lucia is Angelica’s guest. And she’s pregnant, ridded with the scandal Angelica has been trying to avoid all her life.She is the girl I trained myself not to be.Men can do as they like, but women risk losing everything. In her studio, Angelica relives her journey from a poor background to international fame. She paints her friends (Antonio Canova, Germaine de Stael, Emma Hamilton and Goethe among others) and draws us into her fascinating past. Angelica, Paintress of Minds tells of a gifted and powerful woman with a kind heart.

A 'Writer's Review' BOOK OF THE YEAR - "Engaging, perceptive and compassionate, this is a novel that’s hard to put down."1953. Viola is three. The young Queen ofEngland is being crowned on a television in the corner of the room. Tubby littleViola gazes out at the party guests in this fancy London house, already alertto human drama.This is a genteel family in gentle crisisas they have to move from a large house to a tiny flat. Viola’s Anglo-Indianmother hoped for much more from life, while her father gets involved inghosting the memoir of a chorus girl who married a millionaire. Viola burrowsinto the adventures of storybooks and battles her three older brothers forattention. A decade passes, and Viola finds friendship and danger among the oldand the young. 1950s London with its bomb sites, air raid shelters andattitudes to gender, race, class and sex is vividly present. When I Was providesa delicious, memorable portrait of the writer as a young girl.