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 should be in bookshops in mid-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. Contemporary historical fiction again, it will feature a British research scientist caught up in Ronald Reagan's attempt to create 'Star Wars' - a Strategic Defence Initiative designed to end nuclear war. It will feature the relationship between Ronald Reagan, President Gorbachev and the Star Wars programme. It has a working title of The Atomic Catapult – How my mate, Alvin, (nearly) broke the Soviet Union.
What's Phil reading now and what has he just read?
He is reading The Human Factor - Gorbachev, Reagan, and Thatcher, and the end of the Cold War by Archie Brown, Leadership - Six Studies in World Strategy by Henry Kissinger, Victor Hugo - an autobiography by Graham Robb, Ravelstein, Saul Bellow's final novel, and The Collected Short Stories of Lydia Davis. He recently completed the second volume of Zachary Leader's autobiography, The Life of Saul Bellow, Love and Strife, 1965-2005, Ian McEwan's Lessons ("I haven't read all of McEwan but I suspect this is one of his finest"), and Isabel Allende’s A Long Petal of the Sea.