Two men with a passion for vinyl create a society for the appreciation of records. Their aim is simple: to ele- vate the art of listening by doing so in forensic detail. The society enjoys moderate success in the back room of their local pub, The Half Moon, with other enthusiasts drawn to the initial promise of the weekly gathering.
However, as the club gains popularity, its founder’s uncompromising dogma results in a schism within the move- ment and soon a counter group forms. Then the arrival of a young woman called Alice further fractures the unity of the vulnerable society. As rifts are forged and gulfs widen, Magnus Mills examines the surreal nature of ordinary lives. The master of the comic deadpan returns for his ninth novel, a spectacularly disingenuous exploration of power, fanaticism and really, really good records.
‘Always charming, timeless and slightly at a tangent to reality’ Daily Mail
Two men with a passion for vinyl create a society for the appreciation of records. Their aim is simple: to ele- vate the art of listening by doing so in forensic detail. The society enjoys moderate success in the back room of their local pub, The Half Moon, with other enthusiasts drawn to the initial promise of the weekly gathering.
However, as the club gains popularity, its founder’s uncompromising dogma results in a schism within the move- ment and soon a counter group forms. Then the arrival of a young woman called Alice further fractures the unity of the vulnerable society. As rifts are forged and gulfs widen, Magnus Mills examines the surreal nature of ordinary lives. The master of the comic deadpan returns for his ninth novel, a spectacularly disingenuous exploration of power, fanaticism and really, really good records.
‘Always charming, timeless and slightly at a tangent to reality’ Daily Mail
‘There is simply no equivalent of his brand of domestic absurdism’ Independent
‘One of Britain’s most original, inimitable writers’ Spectator
Magnus Mills is the author of nine 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 most recent novel, The Field of the Cloth of Gold was published to great critical acclaim and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2015. His books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in London.
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