Far away, in the ancient empire of Greater Fallowfields, things are falling apart. The imperial orchestra is presided over by a conductor who has never played a note, the clocks are changed constantly to ensure that the sun always sets at five o` clock, & the Astronomer Royal is only able to use the observatory telescope when he can find a sixpence to put in its slot. But while the kingdom drifts, awaiting the return of the young emperor, who has gone abroad & communicates only by penny post, a sinister & unfamiliar enemy is getting closer & closer...A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest & Looked In is Magnus Mills`s most ambitious work to date. A surreal portrait of a world that, although strange & distant, contains rather too many similarities to our own for the alien not to become brilliantly familiar & disturbingly close to home. It is comic writing at its best
- & it is Magnus Mills`s most ambitious, enjoyable & rewarding novel to date.