Awards
Winner of the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award
Synopses & Reviews
The National BestsellerThe 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 boys game of espionage takes a sinister and unintended turn, transforming a wifes 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.
Michael Frayn is the author of ten novels, including the bestselling Headlong, a New York Times Editors Choice selection and a Booker Prize finalist, and Spies, which won Britains Whitbread Fiction Award. He has written fourteen plays, among them Noises Off and Copenhagen, which won three Tony Awards in 1999. He lives in London. A New York Times Notable Book
From the celebrated British novelist and playwright Michael Frayn comes this rich novel of childhood, deceit, desire, guilt, innocence, the past, and other universal mysteries. In Spies, one Stephen Wheatley revisits the sidewalks, shops, houses, and fragrant shrubs and flowers of his childhood neighborhood, and in doing so returns to vivid memories and life-changing secrets of growing up in wartime London. As Stephen pieces together his scattered recollections, we are brought back to a quiet, suburban street where two boysKeith and his sidekick, Stephenare engaged in their own version of the war effort: spying on their neighbors, recording their movements, and ferreting out their secrets. But when Keith reveals a shocking facet of his home life, the boys' game of espionage takes a sinister and unexpected turn, transforming a wife and mother's simple errands into the elements of adult deception, irreversible catastrophe, and domestic violence.
In his sharp yet tender depiction of the boundless imagination and incessant game-playing of childhood, Frayn offers us an exciting world of suspense and intriguebut it also a world that is human, familiar, ordinary, and real. Lyrically written and sensitively imagined, Spies powerfully demonstrates that what appears to be happening in front of our very eyes often turns out to be something we cannot see at all.
"A master of intellectual mystery masquerading as ripping popular entertainment . . . A gorgeous melancholy that shivers the mind."The New York Times Book Review
"Marvelously effective . . . A novel of extraordinary power and wisdom, a tour de force of humane insight."The Baltimore Sun
"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
"In Spies, recollections of actual thingsthe 'disconcerting perfume' of privet hedges in bloom and the flavor of lemon barley watermake Frayn's story so real you can taste it."Boston Herald
"[Spies] convinces American readers that Frayn, author of some thirteen novels and sixteen plays, is a literary double threat."The Boston Globe
"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
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 selfconfident father....Only a curious overabundance of climactic surprisetwists 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
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.
Synopsis
The National BestsellerThe 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 boys game of espionage takes a sinister and unintended turn, transforming a wifes 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.
About the Author
Michael 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.