In the novels of highly decorated Australian author Alex Miller, the discovery of a journal or letter will often spark an unexpected, life-affirming journey. The two-time Miles Franklin award winner is a master of capturing that pivotal moment, when the tides that push our lives here or there, change. New pathways open, new friendships form and the future transforms. Following a spate of nonfiction works – 2020’s Max, and 2017’s autobiographical The Passage of Love – Miller’s new novel A Brief Affair returns to some of the themes and characters we are familiar with from his well-known books such as The Ancestor Game or Journey to the Stone Country.
Miller’s heroine in A Brief Affair is Fran Egan, whose pursuit of a career in academia is turned upside down after one night of passion with a man she meets at an overseas conference. Vowing to keep this experience a secret from her husband and children, Fran grapples with a newfound perspective. She starts to question everything, particularly her role as a mid-level cog in the academic machine.
