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From the Booker-shortlisted author acclaimed as having "no literary precedent" (Independent) comes a gently absurd examination of the systems that trap and frustrate us daily. Fans of dry humor will enjoy this tale of mishap and folly, told from the point of view of a bus driver who's been charged to maintain a precise distance between himself and other buses - a directive that leads him to ignore the very passengers he's meant to serve.
Witty, allegorical, and intelligent, this is a novel for all those who have ever run for a bus, only to have it pull away as they reach its doors. Showcasing all of Mills' strengths, it is the perfect reintroduction for American readers to an incomparable talent.
"Starred Review. Set within the bureaucracy ofthe London bus system, Mills' slim novel fuses whimsy with warped logic." - Kirkus
"If calling this deceptively light reading seems a stretch, this delightful work is none the less amusing and informative, a rare ride well worth the fare." - Library Journal
"This sliver of life behind the wheel may seem silly, but it is consistently funny and perceptively portrays the plight of the little guy struggling to find sanity in an incomprehensible bureaucratic rat race." - Publishers Weekly
"It's finally happened: Britain's most famous bus-driving novelist has given us a novel about buses. All your questions will be answered: why do you wait for ages only for three to come at once? Who are those men who hang around bus stops muttering into handsets? And why do buses suddenly terminate halfway into your journey? ... Brilliant." - The Independent (UK)
"Once you've read this excellent, funny, intelligent book, it will make you look in a more kindly way on that harried driver as he zooms away into the night." - The Daily Telegraph (UK)
"Mills' deadpan humor about the surreal workings of the transport authority has a distinct ring of truth. This novel should be required reading for those in charge of our chaotic public transport system." - The Daily Mail (UK)
"A subtle meditation on what it means to try to impose order in a fundamentally chaotic world ...I suspect Mills has much more to say about power, officialdom, and even buses than he has done here. However, his reticence has always given readers space to think, and his deadpan celebration of chaos is even heart-warming." - The Guardian (UK)
This information about The Maintenance of Headway was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Magnus Mills, a bus driver by trade, is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories, which he types on a typewriter. He doesn't have an email account, and corresponds by postcard. His first novel, The Restraint of Beasts, won the McKitterick Prize and was shortlisted for both the Whitbread (now the Costa) First Novel Award and the Man Booker Prize. It was praised by Thomas Pynchon as "A demented, deadpan comic wonder." Mills' books have been translated into twenty languages. He lives in London.
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