MAGNUS MILLS failed his 11-Plus in 1965 and was then placed in the hands of Gloucestershire Education Authority. He later worked with dangerous machinery in Britain and Australia, before obtaining his present employment as a London bus driver.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1998 BOOKER PRIZE

'A demented, deadpan comic wonder, this rude salute to the dark side of contract employment has the exuberant power of a magic word it might possibly be dangerous (like the title of a certain other Scottish tale) to speak out loud.'

------THOMAS PYNCHON

Meet Tam and Richie: two dour Scots labourers. Fond of denim, workshy, permanently discontented, intent on getting to the pub every night come hell or high water - in short, just your average workmen. But Tam and Richie, with their new supervisor, begin to display hidden depths. Despatched to a farmsite in England by their boss Donald, they deal conclusively with first one then another client, all the while sticking unbendingly to their rituals until comeuppance arrives to herd them away. But just who exactly are the Hall Brothers, and what do they farm?

The Restraint of Beasts is a brilliant, blackly comic debut from a writer of uncanny abilities.