Three to See the King - Softcover

Magnus Mills

3.79

1,294 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007110464 ISBN 13: 9780007110469

Publisher: Flamingo, 2001

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'For a long time I'd been convinced that I occupied a remote and unusual part of the world. Suddenly I wasn't so sure.' Living in a house made entirely of tin, on a great flat plain, far from any neighbour, with the wind for company: what could be better? Then, if a female acquaintance should arrive, make her intentions clear, make her mark, make a home, make some rules: what to do? Your nearest neighbours choose to move on, to move away; when they return, they're on a mission: do you follow in their footsteps? What is to be gained? What is to be lost? Magnus Mills, in this his third novel, has produced another singular, wry and uncanny tale - of civilization and discontent, of community and solitude, of domesticity and adventure, of leaders and followers. With it, Mills reaffirms that he is among the most distinctive and original writers at work in Britain today.

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Review:

Novella-like in form, Magnus Mills' Three to See the King is an uneasy read that transports the reader to a unique fictional setting where the familiar is strangely unfamiliar. Known for his Kafka-esque nightmares, Mills tells the abstract fable of an unnamed man, living in isolation in a tin house, who must choose between a solitary existence and joining the mass exodus of his neighbours. Through simple, deadpan prose, a keen eye for human nature and abrasive wit, Mills not only captures the dull emptiness of the unimagined life but comments allegorically on solitude and society, religion and civilisation, labour and capital. Mills, whose other books include Booker-shortlisted The Restraint of Beasts and All Quiet on the Orient Express, is an absorbing, disturbing writer who is refining his observations with each new book. --Nicola Perry

Review:

"Always funny in a dry, leg-pulling way, it conceals its highbrow underpinnings with great charm" Sunday Times

"Compelling...Magnus Mills has created a spare but absorbing tale in which he handles weighty issues of charismatic leadership, blind faith, and the interdependence of human beings with a light, dexterous touch" Daily Mail

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