|
|
|
|
||
|
HELP | |
|
  $2.63 List price:
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:
Other titles in the Recent Picador Highlights series:
Spiesby Michael Frayn
AwardsWinner of the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award
Staff Pick
This is a story that takes you in like a dream. A man revisits a chapter in his childhood so steeped in intrigue that it continues to haunt him over the course of the rest of his life. Told in a very spare but psychologically pinned style. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:From the bestselling author of Headlong, a mesmerizing novel about secrecy, imagination, and a child's game turned deadly earnest The sudden trace of a disturbing, forgotten aroma compels Stephen Wheatley to return to the site of a dimly remembered but troubling childhood summer in wartime London. As he pieces together his scattered images, we are brought back to a quiet, suburan street where two boys, Keith and his sidekick-Stephen-are engaged in their own version of the war effort: spying on the neighbors, recording their movements, ferreting out their secrets. But when Keith utters six shocking words, the boys' game of espionage takes a sinister and unintended turn. A wife's simple errands and a family's ordinary rituals-once the focus of childish speculation-become the tragic elements of adult catastrophe. In gripping prose, charged with emotional intensity, Spies reaches into the moral confusion of youth to reveal a reality filled with deceptions and betrayals, where the bonds of friendship, marriage, and family are unravelled by cowardice and erotic desire. Master illusionist Michael Frayn powerfully demonstrates, yet again, that what appears to be happening in front of our eyes often turns out to be something we can't see at all. Review:"As it plays out to a surprising denouement, this enigmatic melodrama will keep readers' attention firmly in hand." Publishers Weekly Review:"Frayn builds quite a bit of suspense, and the reader is always one step ahead of Stephen in discerning the nature of the secret. What is truly remarkable about this novel, though, is the way Frayn perfectly captures the dynamics of childhood friendships." Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist Review:"Frayn holds our attention with sharp economical characterizations of the frail and beautiful Mrs. Hayward, Stephen's annoyingly ordinary own family, and Keith's supremely self?confident father....Only a curious overabundance of climactic surprise?twists vitiates the skill with which Stephen's ordeal of subterfuge and guilt is portrayed." Kirkus Reviews Review:"Michael Frayn is a master of the intellectual mystery masquerading as ripping popular entertainment." Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times Book Review Review:"Finely wrought and highly comical....Frayn is a writer who likes to pull the rug out from under your feet while offering you the most seductive of smiles."
Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times Review:"Bernard Shaw couldn't do it, Henry James couldn't do it, but the ingenious English author Michael Frayn does do it: write novels and plays with equal success. [He] has extended his reach and seriousness while keeping a sprightly intellectuality." John Updike, The New Yorker Review:"In Spies, recollections of actual things — the 'disconcerting perfume' of privet hedges in bloom and the flavor of lemon barley water — make Frayn's story so real you can taste it." Boston Herald Review:"In this very English novel, secrets assume an unexpected power and excitement as Frayn reveals that a little of the fascist is buried in every clever child, and that spying can be a soul-destroying game." Chicago Sun-Times Synopsis:The National Bestseller The sudden trace of a disturbing, forgotten aroma compels Stephen Wheatley to return to the site of a dimly remembered but troubling childhood summer in wartime London. As he pieces together his scattered memories, we are brought back to a quiet, suburban street where two boys--Keith and his sidekick, Stephen--are engaged in their own version of the war effort: spying on the neighbors, recording their movements, and ferreting out their secrets. But when Keith utters six shocking words, the boy’s game of espionage takes a sinister and unintended turn, transforming a wife’s simple errands and the ordinary rituals of family life into the elements of adult catastrophe. Childhood and innocence, secrecy, lies and repressed violence are all gently laid bare as once again Michael Frayn powerfully demonstrates that what appears to be happening in front of our eyes often turns out to be something we cannot see at all. Synopsis:In gripping prose charged with emotional intensity, this national bestseller by the author of "Headlong" reaches into the moral confusion of two boys in wartime London to reveal a reality filled with deceptions and betrayals, where the bonds of friendship, marriage, and family are unraveled by cowardice and erotic desire. About the AuthorMichael Frayn is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling Headlong, which was a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection and a Booker Prize finalist. He has also written thirteen plays, among them Noises Off and Copenhagen, which won three Tony Awards in l999. He lives in London. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 3 comments: | |||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
Don't Miss
