Magnus Mills Libri

'Only When the Sun Shines Brightly' is a collection of short stories. Magnus Mills is the author of 'The Restraint of Beasts', and 'All Quiet on the Orient Express'.

Tales of Muffled Oars is English History with all the nasty bits left out.

This wry and uncanny tale is one of civilization and discontent, of community and solitude, of domesticity and adventure, of leaders and followers.

We'd only travelled a few miles when I started wondering how I could rid myself of the three sunbathers. This might sound churlish but actually I felt I owed them no debt of gratitude.

When sloth and alcohol lead to a horribly botched job, two fence builders named Tam and Richie flee their native Scotland to England, where all hell quickly breaks loose.

They were probably quite surprised on the Wednesday afternoon when the clearances began. All along the coast, thousands of sunbathers were rounded up without warning and taken away in vans.In the follow-up to The Trouble with Sunbathers, will the president ever stop interfering? Or will it be his son-in-law?

As the wet Lakeland fells grow misty and the holiday season draws to a close; as the tourists trickle away from the campsite, along with the sunshine, and the hot water, and the last of the good beer - a man accidentally spills a tin of green paint, and thereby condemns himself to death.

There's no doubt that the president was a man of extraordinary ability. His decision to purchase the British Isles was widely acclaimed as an act of genius. It solved our financial difficulties at a stroke. Even so, he could never claim to understand the British people. Not properly.

Meet Tam and Richie: two dour Scots labourers. Clad in denim, work-shy, permanently discontented, intent on getting to the pub every night come hell or high water - in short, akin to your average British workers. But Tam and Richie, with their new supervisor, begin to display hidden depths.

Life on The Scheme is like being in a feather bed. You've got your full uniform provided, cups of tea and sandwiches, the odd comfy snooze in a lay-by while you wait to clock off, and a healthy weekly wage. And all you've got to do is turn up for work! But it could all so easily come to an end.