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A bookish chat with Mark Newies, author of The Unburdening of Ruben Miles

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I’m delighted to welcome Mark Newies to What Cathy Read Next today. Mark’s debut novel, The Unburdening of Ruben Miles, was published by Thinkwell Books on 20th September 2025 and is available to purchase now in paperbook or as an ebook. Read on as I chat to Mark about the inspiration for the novel, its main characters and the ups and downs of being a first-time author.

About the Book

Imagine a man who can remember every day of his life.

Imagine that same man at the centre of 20th century events so significant that his take on the world is both unique and startling.

Meet Ruben Miles. Minder to Babe Ruth. British intelligence spy. Serial marriage hombre.

And one of only 50 people on the planet with hyperthymesia (Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory).

Hold on tight. This could get good.

Find The Unburdening of Ruben Miles on Goodreads

Q&A with Mark Newies, author of The Unburdening of Ruben Miles

Q. Ruben Miles, the main character in your book, has hyperthymesia. How did you first come across this condition and what inspired you to make it the basis for a novel?

I read an article in a science journal several years ago and immediately thought a) What a remarkable condition to have and b) It would make an excellent device for the historical novel I had been working on in which I wanted to cover the entire twentieth century through the eyes of one man. Although I realised quickly I would need two volumes to cover the entire century.

Q. Give us a brief pen picture of Ruben, the book’s main character.

    Ruben Miles is a man of inherent contradictions. Despite his remarkable memory and longevity, he is a morally flexible and flawed human being. Some of his actions can be seen as worthy, even admirable, others are difficult to accept or justify. He may remember every day of his adult life in extreme detail, but how does he process some of those memories?

    Q. Apart from Ruben, who was your favourite character to write?

    I enjoyed writing fictional versions of Babe Ruth and other real figures from history. But I think ‘the Fixer’ would get my ultimate vote – a mysterious American criminal/intelligence man who impacts on Ruben Miles’s life in many ways between both World Wars and beyond. I also enjoyed writing the book’s other main character, JoJo Bartlett, a seventeen-year-old student from Newcastle. It is she that Ruben unburdens himself to. She was inspired by many of the fantastic young people I have taught history and politics to over the years.

    Q. The Unburdening of Ruben Miles is your debut novel. What has the experience been like?

    I enjoyed drafting the book very much, it was never a chore and I think that is also important advice for anyone wishing to start. Due to teaching commitments (I am a private tutor) this took a few years. Rereading and editing for months on end do take their toll. There are times you begin to question whether you even like your own work anymore! As an unknown debut author, sending the manuscript out to agents and publishers can be a discouraging experience. I was fortunate that a small, independent publisher was very enthusiastic about the project from early on.

    Q. Who are your writing heroes?

    In no particular order – Anne Tyler, William Boyd, Richard Russo, Paul Auster, Joseph Heller and John Irving

    Q. Can you tell us a little about the sequel?

    It spans the second half of the twentieth century, picking up Ruben Miles’s story during the denazification process in Germany in 1946. He spends the 1950’s working for American intelligence on Cold War operations including ‘The Red Scare’ and ‘The Bay of Pigs’ before returning to London in the swinging 1960’s where he becomes acquainted with many well-known faces of the underworld.

    About the Author

    Mark Newies was born in Northumberland in 1969. After earning a Liberal Arts degree from Northumbria University, he began his career in publishing and financial services in London.

    In 2002, he shifted paths and retrained as a teacher, completing a PGCE and going on to teach History in Scotland and abroad. Mark is the youngest of two children, and his parents now live in Scotland.

    The Unburdening of Ruben Miles is his debut novel, and he is currently working on its sequel.

    Connect with Mark
    Goodreads 

    #WWWWednesday – 17th December 2025

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    Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

    • What are you currently reading?
    • What did you recently finish reading?
    • What do you think you’ll read next?

    Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

    What I’m Currently Reading

    I’m alternating between a physical copy of Odin’s Game, A Granite Silence on my Kindle and the audiobook of Atmosphere.

    Odin’s Game (The Whale Road Chronicles #1) by Tim Hodkinson (Head of Zeus)

    Not everyone will survive, but who will conquer all in Odin’s game?

    AD 915. In the Orkney Isles, a young woman flees her home to save the life of her unborn child. Eighteen years later, a witch foretells that evil from her past is reaching out again to threaten her son.

    Outlawed from his home in Iceland, Einar Unnsson is thrown on the mercy of his uncle, the infamous Jarl Thorfinn ‘Skull Cleaver’ of Orkney, who wants nothing to do with him. With few other options, Einar joins forces with a band of wolfskin-clad warriors, becoming a player in a deadly game for control of the Irish sea.

    Together they embark on a quest where Einar must fight unimaginable foes, forge new friendships, and discover what it truly means to be a warrior. But as the clouds of war gather, betrayal follows betrayal and Einar realises the only person he can really trust is himself.

    A Granite Silence by Nina Allan (riverrun)

    A Granite Silence is an exploration – a journey through time to a particular house, in a particular street, Urquhart Road, Aberdeen in 1934, where eight-year-old Helen Priestly lives with her mother and father.

    Among this long, grey corridor of four-storey tenements, a daunting expanse of granite, working families are squashed together like pickled herrings in their narrow flats. Here are Helen’s the Topps, the Josses, the Mitchells, the Gordons, the Donalds, the Coulls and the Hunts.

    Returning home from school for her midday meal, Helen is sent by her mother Agnes to buy a loaf from the bakery at the end of the street. Agnes never sees her daughter alive again.

    Nina Allan explores the aftermath of Helen’s disappearance, turning a probing eye to the close-knit neighbourhood – where everyone knows everyone, at least by sight – and with subtlety and sympathy, explores the intricate layers of truth and falsehood that can coexist in one moment of history.

    Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Penguin)

    In the summer of 1980, astrophysics professor Joan Goodwin begins training to be an astronaut at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond; mission specialists John Griffin and Lydia Danes; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer.

    As the new astronauts prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined and begins to question everything she believes about her place in the observable universe.

    Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

    What I’ve Just Read

    Ravenglass by Carolyn Kirby (Northodox Press)

    In 18th century Whitehaven, Kit Ravenglass grows up in a house of secrets. A shameful mystery surrounds his mother’s death, and his formidable, newly rich father is gambling everything on shipping ventures. Kit takes solace in his beloved sister Fliss, and her sumptuous silks, although he knows better than to reveal his delight in feminine fashion. As the family’s debts mount, Kit’s father turns to the transatlantic slave trade – a ruthless and bloody traffic to which more than a fortune might be lost.

    At a private Naval Academy, Kit is jolted into unruly boyhood and scandal before his first taste of life at sea. Adventures will see Kit turn fugitive and begin living as ‘Stella,’ before being swept into the heady violence of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebellion. Driven by love, revenge and a desire to live truly and freely, Kit must find a way to survive these turbulent times – and to unravel the tragic secrets of the Ravenglass family. (Review to follow)

    Helm by Sarah Hall (Faber & Faber)

    Helm is a ferocious, mischievous wind – a subject of folklore and wonder – who has blasted the sublime landscape of the Eden Valley since the very dawn of time.

    This is Helm’s life story, formed from the chronicles of those the wind enchanted: the Neolithic tribe who tried to placate it, the Dark Age wizard priest who wanted to banish it, the Victorian steam engineer who attempted to capture it – and the farmer’s daughter who fell in love. But now Dr Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments, alone in her observation hut, fears the end is nigh.

    Vital and audacious, Helm is the elemental tale of a unique life force – and of a relationship: between nature and people, neither of whom can weather life without the other. (Review to follow)

    What I’ll Be Reading Next

    Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor (Picador)

    It is 1938 and for Manod, a young woman living on a remote island off the coast of Wales, the world looks ready to end just as she is trying to imagine a future for herself. The ominous appearance of a beached whale on the island’s shore, and rumours of submarines circling beneath the waves, have villagers steeling themselves for what’s to come. Empty houses remind them of the men taken by the Great War, and of the difficulty of building a life in the island’s harsh, salt-stung landscape.

    When two anthropologists from the mainland arrive, Manod sees in them a rare moment of opportunity to leave the island and discover the life she has been searching for. But, as she guides them across the island’s cliffs, she becomes entangled in their relationship, and her imagined future begins to seem desperately out of reach.