Spies - Hardcover

Frayn, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805070583 ISBN 13: 9780805070583

Publisher: Metropolitan Books, 2002

Synopsis

When a long-forgotten scent forces Stephen Wheatley to confront his past, he starts to remember a troubling childhood summer in wartime London where he and his friend, Keith, are plunged into a menacing world of terror when their imaginative child's game of playing spies wreaks havoc upon innocent lives. 50,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

In Michael Frayn's novel Spies an old man returns to the scene of his seemingly ordinary suburban childhood. Stephen Wheatley is unsure of what he is seeking but, as he walks once-familiar streets he hasn't seen in 50 years, he unfolds a story of childish games colliding cruelly with adult realities. It is wartime and Stephen's friend Keith makes the momentous announcement that his mother is a German spy. The two boys begin to spy on the supposed spy, following her on her trips to the shops and to the post, and reading her diary. Keith's mother does have secrets to conceal but they are not the ones the boys suspect. Frayn skilfully manipulates his plot so that the reader's growing awareness of the truth remains just a few steps beyond Stephen's dawning realisation that he is trespassing on painful and dangerous territory. The only false notes occur in the final chapter when the central revelation (already cleverly signposted) is too swiftly followed by further disclosures about Stephen and his family that seem somehow unnecessary and make the denouement less satisfyingly conclusive. This is a much sparer and less expansive book than Headlong, Frayn's Booker Prize-shortlisted 1999 novel, more understated in its wit, but it is, in many ways, more compelling.--Nick Rennison

Review:

'Michael Frayn is the most philosophical comic writer - and the most comic philosophical writer - of our time.' Michael Arditti, Daily Mail 'As you're dragged into his headlong race for fame and riches, you never know what will happen next, only that more torture lies in store.' Blake Morrison, Independent on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0805070583
• ISBN 13: 9780805070583
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 261