Spies - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 043512000X ISBN 13: 9780435120009

Publisher: New Windmills, 1711

Synopsis

It's wartime Britain, and Stephen's friend Keith makes the momentous announcement that his mother is a German spy. Determined to find the truth, the two boys begin to spy on the 'spy'. The boys discover that Keith's mother does have secrets to hide, but they are not the ones they had suspected. Ideal for critical analysis of a substantial piece of prose; vocabulary, narrative technique, rhetorical devices and moral depth. Whitbread / Costa Book Award winning title.

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 office, and reading her diary. Keith's mother does have secrets to conceal but they are not the ones the boys suspect. Frayn skillfully manipulates his plot so that the reader's growing awareness of the truth remains just a few steps beyond young Stephen's dawning realization that he is trespassing on painful and dangerous territory. The only false notes occur in the final chapter when the central revelation 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 Frayn's 1999 novel Headlong, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize. --Nick Rennison, Amazon.co.uk

About the Author:

Michael Frayn is the author of nine 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 1999. He lives in London.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Windmills
• Publication date: 1711
• ISBN 10: 043512000X
• ISBN 13: 9780435120009
• Binding: Hardcover