The Pavelić Trap
When British journalist, Mick Morrison, finds himself almost by accident in Croatia as the Yugoslav conflicts of 1991-5 break out, he wonders whether he has the courage or resilience to become a successful war reporter. It is the beginning of a four-year journey leading him through the sieges of Dubrovnik and Sarajevo, the discovery of concentration camps in Northern Bosnia, killings in broad daylight in Višegrad, and an ethnic cleansing episode in which he comes close to losing his life.
As the Srebrenica massacre finally looks like leading to an end to the wars, Mick’s life is thrown into turmoil first by a personal tragedy and then by the emergence of a dark secret from his family’s past that disrupts his passage from rookie war reporter to award-winning journalist and makes him question his deepest convictions.
The Pavelić Trap, an epic account of the fall of Yugoslavia, will be Phil’s second novel published by Troubador and has a publication date of October 28th, 2025.
Goran's Dilemma
28th November, 2024
1992. Bosnian Serb Army Commander, Ratko Mladić, is besieging and bombarding the citizens of Sarajevo. His forces are rampaging through much of the rest of Bosnia at the same time. But, as his notoriety increases, his daughter Ana, a medical student in Belgrade, is struggling to deal with the anomaly of her commitment to the caring professions and her father’s role as a genocidal killer. When her partner and fellow medical student, Goran, challenges her to renounce her father, she responds in a way no-one might have foreseen, changing the lives of those close to her dramatically and irrevocably.
As he struggles to deal with the consequences of Ana’s actions, Goran stumbles into a dilemma even more challenging than his choice over his ultimatum to her. His response to this fresh dilemma will haunt him for years; but, by now a qualified doctor, he works on the frontline of the post-war devastation in Bosnia, seeking to repair children damaged physically and psychologically by the conflicts. It is a saintly Bosnian Muslim social worker who emerges to jolt him out of his torpor, helps him chart his route to redemption, and teaches him a whole new way of living his life.
Though based on a true father-daughter dynamic, Goran’s Dilemma is also a timeless story of love discovered, doomed and then renewed.
Verified Amazon reviews of Goran's Dilemma
"Phil Murphy is a master story teller... Brilliantly done."
"Brilliant, well written historical novel"
"A really enjoyable and educational read. What a debut! I loved this book."
"This thoughtful, suspenseful novel...unfolds at pace with increasing tension."
"This book is beautifully written in vivid, accessible prose and constantly compels the reader's attention. Strongly recommended."
And from renowned singer-songwriter and author of The Songman, Tommy Sands:
"Thanks for this wonderful book, Phil. I have been living with it and being made to think how the opening lines...are mindful of the closing words of an old Irish song. These words would be spoken by the singer, not sung, so as to bring the listener back to earth gently, after being transported to the othersphere of song. Phil Murphy's journalistic years of following heavy footsteps of fact stand him well in recounting events but his added art of imagining sets us free for tracking truths perhaps higher and deeper than the daily news and that is a much needed addition for which, today, our wholeness hungers."
What Next?
Phil is working on a collection of short stories, while he begins research and shapes the outline of his third novel. He is currently exploring a couple of ideas and hopes to begin work on an outline in the near future.
What's Phil reading now and what has he just read?
He is reading Hitch-22, the late Christopher Hitchens' memoir - an outstanding read, outlining Hitch's intellectual journey and highlighting his brilliant eloquence. He is still working through Victor Hugo - an autobiography by Graham Robb, with a view to writing a short story around it. Phil very much enjoyed Scattershot - Life, Music, Elton and Me by Bernie Taupin, which was interesting for his insights into the great people he met (from Salvador Dali to Bob Dylan) rather than as a chronological account of his work with Elton John. He recently completed the second volume of Zachary Leader's autobiography, The Life of Saul Bellow, Love and Strife, 1965-2005, Saul Bellow's final novel, Ravelstein (enjoyable but virtually incomprehensible without knowledge of his near-fatal poisoning late in life and his friendship with philosopher Allan Bloom), and Don DeLillo's White Noise (hugely enjoyable and remarkable for its prescience a couple of decades ahead of our current conspiracy theory-laden world).