Cambridge-based author Phillip Brown to publish first work of fiction

The Mirror Men, due to be published on May 1, deals with current and controversial themes

It explores a Britain that has evolved into a police state in which the freedoms of the past have disappeared. The three principal characters – Percy, Henry and Frank – interact in a world of gradual dehumanisation.

Phillip, who graduated from St John’s College with a PhD in philosophy, said: “One of the themes running through the novel is history and how important it is, and the fact that people who forget their history are likely to have it repeated. But you can’t forget what you don’t know, and therefore the critical study of history is important.”

He continued: “This links then, I suppose, with the role of education – what education should be and what it should allow, that is open discussion and a critical approach to all things – history especially.

“I mention history because in the novel some of the characters are interested in what they call historical continuity, which really is connected with the repetition of events and their causes.”

Phillip notes that another important theme of the book is courage, “without which no amount of moral insight will be effective.” He observes that the story is “faintly futuristic,” though is not set at an exact date in the future.

“The timely message, I hope, from the novel is that what has happened before can happen again, and is indeed to some extent still happening,” he said.

Phillip’s previous non-fiction works include the trilogy The Gods of Our Time, Dreams and Illusions Revisited and The Mountain Dwellers.

There will be a free-to-attend launch of The Mirror Men at Heffers on Thursday, June 21 at 6.30pm. Visit eventbrite.co.uk. The book is published by DB Publishing, an imprint of JMB Media.