[caption id="attachment_68945" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Adrian Millar, author of “The Quiet Life,” enjoys a peaceful moment."]
For most of the past 13 years, Adrian Millar has been a stay-at-home father. Yet, he has also somehow found time to write two works of non-fiction and two novels. In the former category is “Socio-ideological Fantasy and the Northern Ireland Conflict: the Other side,” which was published by PanMacMillan in 2007. Its thesis? Catholics are Protestants, and Protestants are Catholics. Now comes “The Quiet Life,” a plot-driven novel that tells the story of a brother and sister growing up in the Troubles in Belfast, and the trials they have to go through to be true to themselves.
While Professor Richard English of Queen's University described his 2007 book as “thoughtful, fascinating and original,” some best-selling novelists have declared themselves impressed with his foray into story-telling. Marian Keyes said “The Quiet Life” is “brilliant” and Patricia Scanlan found it “very pacy,” “authentic” and an “eye-opener.” Millar’s next book, due for publication later this year, will be about seeing beauty in everyday life.
And for the writer, that everyday life has always been a busy. “Before I had my children, I lived in Japan, Britain and France and was awarded a PhD in Japanese and a PhD in politics. I also trained to be a Catholic priest in the Jesuits,” Millar said. “So, as you can see, I am supremely qualified for my current job of child-rearing, involving, as it does, an awful lot of politics, a wing and prayer, and what seems like a lot of Japanese, for all the listening my kids ever do to me.”
Date of birth: Sept. 25, 1958
Place of birth: Belfast
Spouse: Married to a Cork woman
Children: three (and I can't imagine there will be any more - did you see my date of birth?)
Residence: County Kildare
What is your writing routine? Are there ideal conditions?
My ideal conditions are when my three children are screaming and fighting in the background or begging me to leave the computer to check their home-works (or, as is happening now, arguing with me about not getting into the bath). I wrote “The Quiet Life” in between deciphering baby-talk, kissing bumps better, shouting “Bold table! Bold table!” and changing babies' diapers. Leave me an empty house and I get no writing done.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Have kids? No. Write about what you don't know. In other words, let your fingers do the talking, at least for the first draft. That way you will keep your own interest, whatever about the readers'.
Name three books that are memorable in terms of your reading pleasure.
“Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides, “Infinite Jest” by David Foster Wallace and Don DeLillo's “Underworld.”
What book are you currently reading?
“Noah's Compass” by Anne Tyler.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
Yes, the one I have yet to finish, which will most probably find its way to your local bookstore in 2012, thanks to the wisdom and foresight of a large British publisher who sees a market for a book on the beauty of everyday life, at the height of a recession.
Name a book that you were pleasantly surprised by.
Per Petterson's “Out Stealing Horses.”
If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be?
Marian Keyes, but preferably alive.
What book changed your life?
“The Search for Something More: A Journey to Human Fulfilment,” (Columba Press, 2001), which Peter Hannan SJ, the author, dedicated to me.
What is your favorite spot in Ireland?
A spot I can get to most days once I am shot of the kids: a little rise on the hill by the Grand Canal, from where, perched on my bicycle saddle, I can admire the Dublin mountains and check my mobile phone for messages.
You're Irish if . . .
... you have British, Norman, Celtic or, of late, African blood in you and are owned by the German banks.
“The Quiet Life” is published on the web at www.smashwords.com. To sample or purchase it there, type in “Adrian Millar.”
For more information you can also visit www.adrianmillar.
ie and the author’s blog at adrianmillar.wordpress.com.
