A dark, surreally funny novel from the bestselling Booker Prize-shortlisted author 'Hilariously surreal. It's a bit like the Coen Brothers directing an Alan Bennett play... Fantastic' Daily Mirror 'Understatedly surreal, deadpan gothic, Mills is a master of the uncanny ... Such a fresh fictional voice' Esquire It is the end of the summer. The tourists have already gone, and now the sun is abandoning the Lake District's damp valleys. Only a lone camper remains, enjoying the quiet. He plans to stay just long enough to prepare for a trip to the East. But then the owner of the campsite asks him to paint a fence and he innocently obliges. Soon other odd jobs pile up until little by little he becomes ensnared in the ominous 'out-of-season'...

'Hilariously surreal. It's a bit like the Coen Brothers directing an Alan Bennett play... Fantastic' Daily Mirror

About the Author
Magnus Mills is the author of the story collection Screwtop Thompson and six novels, including The Restraint of Beasts, which won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread (now the Costa) First Novel Award in 1999. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in London.

Reviews
'Understatedly surreal, deadpan gothic, Mills is a master of the uncanny ... Such a fresh fictional voice' * Esquire *
'Mills is a master of the cliffhanger and can make even the most deadpan behaviour compelling and funny... A deliciously sly comic fable' * Financial Times *
'Absorbing, darkly worrying and very, very funny' * The Times *
'Mill's great strength is in mixing quiet amusing amusements with a deeper feeling of malice' * Guardian *



Book Information
ISBN 9781408813768
Author Magnus Mills
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 258g