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Caroline Miller

Author profile

born

in Waycross, Georgia, The United States

January 01, 1903

died

January 01, 1992

genre

Literature & Fiction

About this author

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Caroline Miller published her first novel, Lamb in His Bosom, in 1933 and became the first Georgian to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The thirty-year-old housewife and author produced one of the most critically acclaimed first novels of the Southern Renaissance period. In addition to the Pulitzer, the novel earned France's Prix Femina in 1934 and became an immediate best-seller.

Miller, the youngest of seven children, was born on August 26, 1903, in Waycross (in Ware County) to a schoolteacher and a Methodist minister. Miller's father died while she was in junior high school; her mother died in her junior year of high school. She demonstrated an early interest in writing and acting and performed in several high school plays. Shortly aft...more Caroline Miller published her first novel, Lamb in His Bosom, in 1933 and became the first Georgian to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The thirty-year-old housewife and author produced one of the most critically acclaimed first novels of the Southern Renaissance period. In addition to the Pulitzer, the novel earned France's Prix Femina in 1934 and became an immediate best-seller.

Miller, the youngest of seven children, was born on August 26, 1903, in Waycross (in Ware County) to a schoolteacher and a Methodist minister. Miller's father died while she was in junior high school; her mother died in her junior year of high school. She demonstrated an early interest in writing and acting and performed in several high school plays. Shortly after graduation she married her high school English teacher, William D. Miller, and the couple moved to Baxley. In 1927, after six years of marriage, a son was born. Miller gave birth again in 1929 to twin boys. In addition to her domestic duties, Miller continued to write short stories to supplement the family income.

Described by literary critics as a work of regional historical realism, Lamb in His Bosom depicts the struggle and hardships of poor white pioneers in the nineteenth century on the south Georgia frontier, known as the wiregrass region.

The stress of sudden fame and attention strained the Millers' marriage, and in 1936 the couple divorced. In 1937 Caroline Miller married a florist and antique dealer, Clyde H. Ray Jr. The couple made their home in Waynesville, North Carolina, where Caroline helped her husband in his business and gave birth to a fourth son and a daughter.

Miller continued to write features and short stories for newspapers and magazines. Her second novel, Lebanon (1944), received a lukewarm reception from critics, and Miller herself was not satisfied with it.

During the following decades Miller wrote prolifically and completed several manuscripts. Uncomfortable in the glare of the public spotlight so many years earlier, Miller chose not to publish any additional work. She remained in her mountain home in western North Carolina, cherishing her privacy and solitude. Lamb in His Bosom enjoyed a resurgence of popularity a year after Miller's death, when Peachtree Publishers in Atlanta reprinted the novel with an afterword by historian Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. This signaled a new attention to her work by both literary scholars and historians.

Caroline Miller died on July 12, 1992, knowing that she had received what she once declared to be the true reward of a novelist—"the knowledge that after he dies he will leave the best part of himself behind."

Miller was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2007 and into Georgia Women of Achievement in 2009.
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Caroline Miller's Books

Average rating: 3.98 · 266 ratings · 44 reviews · 13 distinct works · Similar authors

	Lamb in His Bosom by Caroline Miller, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (Afterword) 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 266 ratings — published 1933 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bright Words for Dark Days: Meditations for Women Who Get the Blues 5.0 of 5 stars 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1994	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Assessment and Outcomes in the Arts Therapies: A Person-Centred Approach 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — expected publication 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lebanon 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1944	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Implementing Sustainability 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Past Matters: Heritage and Planning History Case Studies from the Pacific Rim 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2007	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Name is Caroline 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1988	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	FEEDING THE SOUL; Daily Meditations for those Recovering from Eating Disorders 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1991	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Florida Theme Parks: A Guide by Alex Miller, Caroline Miller (Illustrations), Tony Baxter (Foreword) 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — expected publication 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bits & Pieces by Ashly Cochran, Caroline Miller (Photographer) 0.0 of 5 stars 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2009	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Caroline Miller…

Quotes by Caroline Miller

“God's forgot that ever I lived... He's forgot...and He never cared, nohow...."

He smoothed her brown, rough-palmed hand; he held her hands to keep her from jerking herself away from his admonishing: "Oh, 'tis not true, the words yere a-sayin', Cean Smith; and well ye know it. Never does He forget a child o' His'n. 'Tis His children that forget that He is rememberin'. Get on yere knees and climb on them up to the shelter o' His arms. Knock on His ears with yere prayers. Creep into His arms, Cean Smith, and lay yere head on His bosom, and He'll hold ye closer than inny man ye ever love can ever hold ye. He'll lay His hand on yere head and ye'll stop yere restless fightin' against His will. He'll shut yere pitiful little mouth from complainin' against Him. Ye'll hush and be comforted...."

She dared him to prove his saying: "Then pray fer Him to do them things fer me!"

He prayed; and when he had finished, Cean's will was as water to God's will, and Cean's tears were softening and healing to her heart.”
― Caroline Miller, Lamb in His Bosom

tags: comfort, faith, god-s-will, healing, prayer, suffering

2 people liked it

“She was glad that she had not let on to Lonzo how she felt; a woman has business to be as strong as a man. No, a woman has to be stronger than a man. A man don't mind laying the ax between a calf's eyes; a woman does mind, and has to stand by and watch it done. A man fathers a little un, but a woman feels it shove up against her heart, and beat on her body, and drag on her with its weight. A woman has to be stronger than a man.”
― Caroline Miller, Lamb in His Bosom

tags: babies, strength-and-courage, women