Three to See the King: ‘Pythonesque ... Quirky, deadpan and quietly unhinged' - Softcover

Mills, Magnus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408813750 ISBN 13: 9781408813751

Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2011

Synopsis

Living on a windy plain in a house made entirely from tin, a recluse's quiet life is transformed by the severely critical Mary Petrie who arrives unannounced with a trunk of her belongings in tow. As a procession of new houseguests begins, our narrator is put under pressure as his previously-isolated existence is turned on its head and he is forced to choose between a solitary life and joining the mass exodus of his neighbours...

About this title

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:

'Marvellous ... a delicious ambiguity, a parable which is both loaded and ingenious' (Independent)

'Mills's comedy shares its anthropological glee with The League of Gentlemen...This shouldn't be a speedy page-turner, but it is; light reading with real depth' (Guardian)

'Pythonesque ... Quirky, deadpan and quietly unhinged' (Scotsman)

'Magnus Mills goes from strength to strength...Three to See the King develops his idiosyncratic vision with wry intelligence and wit' (Spectator)

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1408813750
• ISBN 13: 9781408813751
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240