'Rural weirdness'

By Unknown Author

Described in a rather dull fashion as "a cautionary tale of labour and capital", Magnus Mill's second novel is an enjoyably offbeat experience. Its themes, style and atmosphere are very similar to his previous book, the Booker prize-nominated The Restraint of Beasts; but this shouldn't be held against him, as his stories of rural weirdness are pretty much unique.

The narrator (we never learn a name) is spending the last few days of his camping holiday before spending his hard-earned cash on a dream excursion by train to Turkey, Persia and India - the Orient Express. The campsite owner and local bigwig, Mr Parker, persuades him to paint a gate in exchange for letting him off the rent for his holiday. From here, the plot snowballs slowly as the narrator is sucked into the local community, all of whom know exactly where he has been and what he is doing. Life centres around Hodge's grocery store, Mr Parker's house and the local pub, the Packhorse. The pub is the locals' stronghold, patronised by Bryan Webb a man who somewhat ludicrously wears a cardboard crown on his head and the darts team who take failure to turn up very seriously indeed. After being moved from job to job the narrator effectively becomes one of the locals and, before he knows it, is trapped.

The dénouement is deliciously harsh, belying the rather gentle if odd events of earlier chapters. Mills' writing draws your attention in superbly despite the lack of any apparent action or explosive dialogue; the village world is realistic but seen through a distorted mirror so that commonplace events take on a sinister hue. Moments abound that remind the reader of Hammer Horror films where the hero walks into an isolated pub to be greeted by stony silence and the slowly turning heads of the inhabitants.

Not that the overall impression is a gloomy one. The dialogue is sparse and punctuated by awkward gaps ("So you're staying then?"/"If that's alright with you.") but this is how people do speak when they don't know each other. Watch out too for the hilarious sub-plot where Mr Parker's flirtatious schoolgirl daughter causes much embarrassment for the lodger who ends up doing all her homework, and also the revelation of just why Bryan Webb wears that crown.

In short, ignore the hype about the author being a bus driver and enjoy Mills' mordant wit, which makes this decidedly strange book such an excellent read.

lg

28th Oct 1999