Magnus Mills Knihy

Příběh-nepříběh hrdiny-nehrdiny – obyvatele domu na jakési pustině, zeměpisně neurčené, je ještě obecnějším a tajemnějším podobenstvím o naší moderní době než autorova prvotina. Pustina, domek, běžné zařízení a odpolední čaje, žena, co se odněkud vezme a nastěhuje se, přicházející návštěvy, lidé, kteří houfně odcházejí na jakousi zvláštní stavbu.

Nerozlučná dvojka Tam a Richie, mladí Skotové, pracují pro firmu, jež staví ohrady pro dobytek. Podnik řídí podezřele ambiciozní a tvrdý Donald, jehož krédem je co největší efektivita práce. Krédem Tama a Richieho jsou „děvky, pivko a ročes", a z toho především ta hospoda, kam musí oba po práci zajít, i kdyby venku trakaře padaly. Firma dostane zakázku z Anglie, kam si však Donald netroufá poslat Tama a Richieho samotné a přidělí jim nového předáka (románového vypravěče). Cesta, pobyt a práce se neobejdou bez všemožných problémů, z nichž ale žádný není nikdy tak velký, aby trojici zabránil ve večerní návštěvě hospody. Pivo je jejich jedinou pohonnou hmotou. Klíčové je pak jejich setkání s řeznickou firmou bří Hallové, která potřebuje spousty ohrad pro „zvířata".

Tales of Muffled Oars is English History with all the nasty bits left out.

We'd only travelled a few miles when I started wondering how I could rid myself of the three sunbathers. This might sound churlish but actually I felt I owed them no debt of gratitude.

They were probably quite surprised on the Wednesday afternoon when the clearances began. All along the coast, thousands of sunbathers were rounded up without warning and taken away in vans.In the follow-up to The Trouble with Sunbathers, will the president ever stop interfering? Or will it be his son-in-law?

As the wet Lakeland fells grow misty and the holiday season draws to a close; as the tourists trickle away from the campsite, along with the sunshine, and the hot water, and the last of the good beer - a man accidentally spills a tin of green paint, and thereby condemns himself to death.

There's no doubt that the president was a man of extraordinary ability. His decision to purchase the British Isles was widely acclaimed as an act of genius. It solved our financial difficulties at a stroke. Even so, he could never claim to understand the British people. Not properly.

'He has no literary precedent, and he also appears to have no imitators. He mines a seam that no one else touches on, every sentence in every book having a Magnus Mills ring to it that no other writer could produce' Independent

From Magnus Mills, the acknowledged master of the working-class dystopic parable--a genre he practically invented--a new work of comic genius The whole idea is simple yet so perfect: men drive to and from strategically placed warehouses in Univans--identical and serviceable vehicles--transporting replacement parts for. . .Univans. Gloriously self-perpetuating, the Scheme was designed to give an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s labor. That it produces nothing does not obtain. Our hero in Magnus Mills’ mesmerizing new work is a five-year veteran of the Scheme: he knows the best routes, the easiest managers, the quickest ways in and out. Inevitably, trouble begins to brew. A woman arrives on the scene. Some workers develop delivery sidelines. And most disturbing of all, not all participants are in agreement. There are “Flat-Dayers,” who believe the Scheme’s eight-hour day is sacrosanct and inviolable, and there are “Swervers,” who fancy being let off a little early now and again. Disagreement turns to argument, argument to debate, debate to outright schism. Soon the Flat-Dayers and Swervers have pushed the Scheme to the very brink of disaster. . .and readers to the edge of their chairs in delight.

The brilliant new novel by the author of The Restraint of Beasts