Three to See the King, the third novel by Booker Prize-shortlisted author Magnus Mills

Magnus Mills

- Background :Magnus Mills was born in Birmingham and brought up in Bristol. After graduating with an economics degree from Wolverhampton Polytechnic, he started a masters degree at the University of Warwick but dropped out before completion....

, published in 2001, is part parable

Parable

A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...

 and part speculative fiction

Speculative fiction

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as...

.
Written after the success of his first book, The Restraint of Beasts

The Restraint of Beasts

The Restraint of Beasts is a tragicomic debut novel, written by Magnus Mills. In it, an anonymous narrator 'the foreman' works for a Scottish fencing company, run by Donald who is consumed by work and the desire for 'efficiency'...

, brought him into the media limelight, Three to See the King started out in part as a "project" to prove to himself that he could be a fulltime writer. The book was so successful that reviews appeared in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, The Spectator

The Spectator

The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...

and The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

, and it has been translated into both German as Zum König! (2004) and French as 3 pour voir le Roi (2005).

Plot Introduction

The nameless narrator lives in an isolated tin house situated on a windswept sandy plain, miles from his nearest neighbours whom he meets infrequently. He is quite happy in his lonely self sufficiency until unexpectedly a woman comes to live with him. Unsettled at first, the narrator gradually gets used to the companionship. Then news comes of a new community being established on the edge of the plain by a charismatic, yet enigmatic figure who is digging a canyon and gaining more and more followers to his revolutionary cause. One by one, his neighbours join the canyon project, moving their tin houses to the new community as the narrator feels under increasing pressure to join them...

External links

• Three to See the King at The Complete Review