Synopses & Reviews
On the private Greek island of Skios, the high-paying guests of a world-renowned foundation prepare for the annual keynote address, to be given this year by Dr. Norman Wilfred, an eminent authority on the scientific organization of science. He turns out to be surprisingly youthful, handsome, and charming. Everyone is soon eating out of his hands. No one more than Nikki, the foundation's attractive and efficient organizer. Meanwhile, Nikki's old friend Georgie has rashly agreed to spend a furtive horizontal weekend with a notorious schemer. Trapped there with her instead is a pompous, balding individual called Dr. Norman Wilfred, who has lost his whereabouts, his luggage, his temper - indeed, everything he possesses other than the text of a lecture on the scientific organization of science.
Review
"A witty Rube Goldberg construction of a novel...Think Being There set to the staccato pacing of Noises Off, and hold on to your funny bones." - Library Journal
"Entertaining...A lacerating satire." - Publishers Weekly
"...perfect holiday reading...Frayn has a genius for creating believable people out of the most meagre of details." - The Spectator (UK)
"Readers will need a heart of Attic marble not to laugh along with Skios." - The Independent (UK)
Review
""Sachs's bemused delivery is especially endearing as he reveals the hypocrisy of pompous seekers of universal truth, hapless grifters, and public relations professionals."" - AudioFile Magazine
One of the Books of the year 2012. ""... brilliantly plotted..."" - The Guardian (UK)
""A witty Rube Goldberg construction of a novel...Think Being There set to the staccato pacing of Noises Off, and hold on to your funny bones."" - Library Journal
""Entertaining...A lacerating satire."" - Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A comedy of mislaid identities, unruly passions, and delicious disorder by the lauded Michael Frayn.
About the Author
Michael Frayn is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling Headlong, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection and a Booker Prize finalist, and Spies, which received the Whitbread Fiction Award. He has also written a memoir, My Father's Fortune, and fifteen plays, among them Noises Off and Copenhagen, which won three Tony Awards. He lives just south of London.