'Tam and I took hold of Mr McCrindle and lowered him into the hole, feet first. We decided to leave his cap on.' Fencers Tam, Richie and their ever-exasperated English foreman are forced to move from rural Scotland to England for work. After a disastrous start involving a botched fence and an accidental murder, the three move to a damp caravan in Upper Bowland and soon find themselves in direct competition with the sinister Hall Brothers whose business enterprises seem to combine fencing, butchering and sausage-making. The Restraint of Beasts introduced readers to the now much-loved unique voice of Magnus Mills and his surreally comic world. 'A demented, deadpan comic wonder' - Thomas Pynchon The Maintenance of Headway 'To write one unique book is a rare achievement. The ability to produce several is truly special' - Independent Explorers of the New Century 'Writers that always spring to mind when reading Magnus Mills are Kafka and Beckett ... Mills asserts himself as comedy 's blackest, funniest and most astute practitioner' - Daily Telegraph 'While the novel undoubtedly harbours darker elements, its most successful mode is deadpan humour ... he squelches mankind's confident madness, deftly and comically fuses the monotonous and the monstrous' - Sunday Times