Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 16 June 2011.
Reviewed on Richard & Judy on Wednesday 30 July 2008.
Wise, inspiring and brilliantly compelling, this is an unforgettable debut novel that will pull on the heart strings. There’s a real quality about the writing, which is spare with not a word out of place and coupled with a quirky but excellent plot, stylish wit and plenty of emotional ups and downs it’s a book to savour. Pippa is an unforgettable heroine and the flashbacks to her less than ordinary childhood are cleverly intertwined with her life now with an elderly husband, 30 years her senior, who she is utterly devoted to.
'A luminous writer' Olivia Laing 'Compelling' The Times 'Beautifully nuanced' Daily Mail
Pippa seems to have everything in life. But suddenly she finds her world beginning to unravel. Amid the buzzing lawnmowers and suburban coffee mornings, she starts to wonder how she came to be in this place. The answer is a story of wild youth, unexpected encounters, affairs and betrayals, and the dangerous security of marriage.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee brilliantly reveals the challenges of modern life - and all the possibilities that it holds.
"With beautiful simplicity, Miller unravels Pippa's past and celebrates the stirrings of something new." Kerry Fowler, Good Housekeeping
"This intriguing novel is bound to get attention...intelligent, thoughtful writing." Lucy Atkins, Guardian
"A beautifully layered and subtle novel of identity, with a wonderfully vivid sense of place and character. And it's hesitatingly wise in all sorts of ways, as well as being a deftly constructed page-turner." Joseph O'Connor
Author
About Rebecca Miller
Rebecca Miller worked as a painter and actress before becoming a writer and director. She is the author of the short story collection Personal Velocity, her feature film adaptation of which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and also directed The Ballad of Jack and Rose, which starred her husband Daniel Day-Lewis, and Angela. She lives in Ireland and New York with her family.
