Three to See the King

2001 novel by Magnus Mills

Three to See the King

First edition

Author| Magnus Mills
Language| English
Genre| Parable[1]
Publisher| Flamingo

Publication date

| 4 June 2001
Publication place| United Kingdom
Media type| Print & eBook
Pages| 176
ISBN| 978-0312283551

Three to See the King, the third novel by Booker Prize-shortlisted author Magnus Mills, published in 2001, is part parable[2] and part speculative fiction.[3] Written after the success of his first book, The Restraint of Beasts, 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 full-time writer.[4] The book was so successful that reviews appeared in The Guardian, The Spectator and The Independent, and it has been translated into both German as Zum König! (2004) and French as 3 pour voir le Roi (2005).[5]

## Plot

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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, Mary Petrie, 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. It transpires that the end-goal for the project is not for there to be a city of tin houses, but a city of clay houses. Many of the previously convinced citizens of the plain and beyond are frustrated by this news, and decide to return to their previous existences.

## References

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1. ^ Fiction DB: Three to See the King by Magnus Mills, http://www.fictiondb.com/author/magnus-mills~three-to-see-the-king~179615~b.htm, retrieved 28 August 2011.
2. ^ The Independent on Sunday: "Three to See the King, by Magnus Mills – James Urquhart acclaims a sly parable that bends and reshapes the land of Oz," [1][dead link], 16 June 2001.
3. ^ Eric Walker: Ten Overlooked Odd Speculative Fiction Classics, http://www.sfsite.com/lists/10odd04.htm, 2006.
4. ^ "Booker prize nominee prefers driving a bus". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
5. ^ The Complete Review, http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/millsm/threesee.htm, retrieved 28 August 2011.

## External links

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* Three to See the King at The Complete Review

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Works by Magnus Mills

Novels|

* The Restraint of Beasts (1998)
* All Quiet on the Orient Express (1999)
* Three to See the King (2001)
* The Scheme for Full Employment (2003)
* Explorers of the New Century (2005)
* The Maintenance of Headway (2009)
* A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest and Looked In (2011)
* The Field of the Cloth of Gold (2015)
* The Forensic Records Society (2017)
* Tales of Muffled Oars (2020)
* The Trouble with Sunbathers (2020)
* Sunbathers in a Bottle (2021)
* Mistaken for Sunbathers (2022)
* The Cure for Disgruntlement (2023)

Short story collections|

* Only When the Sun Shines Brightly (1999)
* Once in a Blue Moon (2003)
* Screwtop Thompson (2010)

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