Caroline Miley
Writer
About
I'm an art historian and writer with a long-time passion for art, history and literature. I'm fascinated by the late Georgian era, a time when the old and the new existed side by side in a time of rapid transition. Society was in flux; new worlds were being mapped in the heavens as well as on the planet; Europe was in the grip of revolution; anything seemed possible. How could I resist writing novels that explore this wonderful time?
NON-FICTION
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Christian Waller Stained Glass: Towards the Light
For the first time, a major volume charting the entire stained glass oeuvre of this fascinating and little-known Australian artist. Waller worked between the wars in Melbourne, the first woman professional stained glass artist and the only one until the craft revival of the 1970s. Influenced by the UK Arts and Crafts Movement, her work is brilliant, original and inventive.
Dedicated website with details, events and online store at www.christianwallerstainedglass.com
The Arts among the Handicrafts: the Arts & Crafts Movement
in Victoria 1889-1929
A major contribution to Australian decorative arts scholarship and to understanding of the reach and spread of the Arts and Crafts Movement engendered by William Morris, this comprehensive and scholarly text has been released for the first time as an ebook and paperback.
FICTION
ARTIST ON CAMPAIGN
Ralph Oughtred has few ambitions – to be rich, or at least out of debt, to eventually marry his charming mistress, and to get into the Royal Academy.
An amiable rake in Georgian London, Ralph is an artist who thinks he’s got it made when he wins a big commission to paint the Duke of Wellington’s generals. But they’re whisked off to Portugal to fight Napoleon and he must follow or lose the money. In a comic romp through Portugal and Spain in the train of the British army, Ralph leads the reader through war, art, sex, love, travelogue and musings on life. He’s recruited as a spy, accidentally leads a cavalry charge, makes love to an officer’s wife during a battle and is captured by the French.
A man of his time and an everyman bound to the wheel of fortune, Ralph travels the road of the reluctant hero from innocence to experience. His adventures will appeal to readers who want their history lively, their escapism philosophical and their narratives lyrical.
Reviews
“Artist on Campaign is literary, historical and funny, a stylish evocation of the history and manners of an era, and an entertainment of the highest order.”
- Mark Tredinnick, Editor, mentor and author The Blue Plateau etc
“Entertaining and will hold the interest of both those who specialize in the era and the casual reader. Highly recommended.”
- Robert Burnham, Editor the Napoleon Series
"A delightful, amusing, colourful romp, stylishly crafted and brought off with great pace and gusto. Miley is a writer of real talent with a very good story."
- Timothy Balding, author The Impostors, The Zucchini Conspiracy
"Who knew painting Army bigwigs' portraits could be so frustrating, so scary and so much fun?”
- Jane Sullivan, author (Storytime, Little People) and literary journalist.
Artist on Campaign was shortlisted for a Varuna Fellowship 2019.
The Napoleon Series
http://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/c_fiction.html
A Darn Good Read
https://adarngoodread.blogspot.com/2019/11/book-review-artist-on-campaign-by-caroline-miley.html
‘Sex, swearing and humour in the Regency’
– English Historical Fiction Authors
https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/
‘Writing Regency women’
– Novel Delights
‘The life of an officer on campaign’
– All Things Georgian
https://georgianera.wordpress.com/
Author Interview
- Jane Davis' Virtual Book Club
Author Interview
- Story Addict
Articles
THE COMPETITION
Awards
Winner of a Varuna Fellowship and a
Fellowship of Australian Writers Award 2015
Selected for the booklist of the Royal Academy (London) 250th Anniverary Exhibition 'The Great Spectacle' 2018
Making a living as an artist in Georgian London isn’t easy, so when the Royal Academy announces a competition with huge prizes, Edward Armiger has to enter - here is his opportunity to grasp the success he needs. Then a chance commission pitches him into the gritty industrial world of Northern England, of woollen mills and self-made men, of radical politics and frame-breakers. The effect on Edward is shattering and he finds it hard to go back to his old world of coffee-houses, art exhibitions and Academy gossip. Stuck in the middle, he has to decide: safe career or dangerous politics? If he chooses politics, how will he ever make a living, and will he ever be able to marry? And if he chooses the safety of the Academy, will success come at too high a price?
Reviews
“The Competition is a novel of astounding verisimilitude: it seems incredible that Miley was not present at these events. Yet Edward Armiger’s struggles are of our own times too.”
Judith Lukin-Amundsen
Editing Legend
"Readers feel they are right there... fine, creative historical fiction"
Viviane Crystal
Historical Novel Review No. 82 Nov 2017
"A meticulous recreation of period
England"
Cameron Woodhead
The Age
The Sydney Morning Herald
Edward Armiger's World
Gallery of places and paintings described in The Competition
 T H Shepherd: Somerset House & St Mary-le-Strand, 1818 |  Exhibition Room, Somerset House, Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin, 1800 |  Old Slaughter's Coffee House, St Martin's Lane |
|---|---|---|
 Thomas Rowlandson: A coffee-house, 1790 |  British Institution, 52 Pall Mall |  Thomas Rowlandson: Interior of the British Institution, artists copying works |
 Johann Zoffany: Portraits of the Academicians of the Royal Academy, 1771-72 |  James Barry: The Thames, or the Triumph of Navigation, 1792 |  Benjamin West: Christ Healing the Sick, 1812 |
 Paolo Veronese: The Consecration of St Nicholas, 1572 |  William Collins: May Day, 1812 |  William Collins: The weary trumpeter, or Juvenile mischief, 1812 |
 JMW Turner: Snowstorm - Hannibal Crossing the Alps, 1812 |  John Constable: A Watermill, 1812 |  William Westall: Part of King George III Sound, 1802 |
 Fuseli: Ulysses addressing the shade of Ajax, 1812 (copy) |  Fuseli: Lady Macbeth seizing the daggers, 1812 |  Henry Thomson: Infancy of Jupiter, 1812, engraved by Henry Meyer |
 Henry Singleton: Members of the Royal Academy in General Assembly,1795 |
Other Writing
Short Story
'In the New Land'
The story captures the reflections of a marine as he waits for Captain Cook to claim NSW for the British Crown.
Finalist in the:
Rolf Boldrewood Literary Award
Words of Wyndham Literary Award
Margot Manchester Memorial Award
Article
'Politics in Late Georgian Art'
An illustrated article on the English Historical Fiction Authors website:
blogspot.com.au/
Photos
CM and Jan Goldsmith at Radio 3CR
Jane Sullivan launching the book
Trish Bolton, mc at the launch
View of the room at the Victorian Artists Society
Books
CM signing