Never Give Up by Miranda Miller

Hello Everybody,

I’m looking forward to the launch of The Fairy Visions of Richard Dadd at the Owl bookshop and my conversation with the artist and writer Sally Kindberg. Publishing a book is always a good excuse for a party and I do hope you’ll be able to come.

I don’t think I’ll be self publishing again. My incompetence with computers has made it all very difficult, I got into a terrible muddle over which of the many tentacles of Amazon to approach and how to make the text and cover of my novel fit their templates. US and UK paperbacks have different dimensions. I haven’t written anything new for weeks, I’m longing to get on with the second draft of my new novel, Half a Century. Writing gives me energy even when it goes badly, whereas the nitty gritty of printing - the choice of font, fiddling over gutters and margins and so on - just exhausts me. Thankfully there are lots of clever designers around who can help with this and Reedsy have been very useful.

On July 23rd at 7.30 I’ll be giving an illustrated talk about Richard Dadd for the Camden History Society at Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, WC1X 8PA.

I’m looking forward to seeing the exhibition at the Royal Academy opens on July:

Richard Dadd

Beyond Bedlam

25 July - 25 October 2026. Copies of my novel will be on sale in the Royal Academy bookshop.

While I was researching the 19th century art world to write my novel about Richard Dadd, I reflected that I wouldn’t dare to write about contemporary artists and galleries. I’m often baffled by what I see there and shocked and depressed by scandals of corruption and fakery. Gordon and I enjoyed The Christophers, a brilliantly scripted film about art and criticism, authenticity and legacy. The director, Steven Soderbergh, has created a subtle and intimate battle of wits between a bitter old painter, Julian Skiar (Ian Mckellen) and a tough young critic, Lori Butler (Michaela Coel). Both of them, in different ways, have been wounded by the cruelty of the art world. Julian’s estranged children concoct a failed plot to get Lori to forge some unfinished paintings their father did. The film feels as intense and powerful as a good stage play, by Strindberg for instance, where we see human emotions naked. Picasso, that much forged artist, said “Art is a lie that makes us realise the truth.”

The pond in 1930

The recent heatwave was made bearable by swimming every day, both in a heated indoor pool and at the Highgate Ladies’ pond. I went there twice in the early morning with my daughter Rebecca, we were exhilarated by the beauty of the setting and the friendliness of the other women. In a world where there sometimes seems to be a tyranny of perfect expectations of women’s bodies - the Barbie police - it’s lovely to see women of all ages, shapes and sizes being totally unselfconscious. The pond has just celebrated its 100th anniversary and I do hope it survives for another century.