Spies

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Upon his return to England, Stephen visits his former house from 50 years ago. He realizes that although it initially appears unchanged, the environment has transformed drastically and no longer resembles his childhood abode. Despite questioning his reasons for returning, Stephen's conviction is reinforced when he hears the familiar sound of a train from his childhood. He reminisces about his neighbors, particularly the Pincher family living next door at No. 2, who were shunned due to their untidy lawn.

And so he sets off for London, to revisit the Close where he grew up and where something happened ..... At the beginning of the book he feels the need to stroll down "Memory Lane" once again -- to "the last house before you go round the bend and it turns into Amnesia Avenue" as he tells his children. Rant over and explanation of my initial negative colouring of this novel, I found the story interesting, if not what I would normally read. The style of writing is by no means conventional, as is especially expressed within the last chapter which almost gives spoilers of who Stephen was and who he became, leaving more questions than answers. For that, I did quite enjoy the book - as did my three highlighters spent on covering the novel. Subsequently, Stephen rarely interacts with Keith or Keith's mother. Whenever he sees her, she is accompanied by her husband. Barbara theorizes that perhaps Keith's mother was caught having an affair, which explains why her husband restricts her freedom. The key to the book's success is Frayn's decision to respect young Stephen's point of view without staking everything on recreating it. Stephen's older self frets over the past which is the boy's present, without claiming authority over it. The sheer foreignness of childhood requires that he use the third person as often as the first ('I watch him emerge from the warped front door, still cramming food into his mouth from tea'). Physical sensations - the feel of a tumbler of lemon barley, the taste of chocolate spread - survive better in memory than past states of mind. This can seem a rather perverse piece of construction, setting up a double perspective and then muffling it, but its great virtue is that it shuts out whimsy.Spies was well-received by the literary community, with many critics praising Frayn for his creative and original approach. [2] Once published, Spies went on to win the 2002 Whitbread Novel of the year for achievement in literary excellence, and the 2002 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic literature.

As such, it is full of tender, latent comedy, but Frayn fights the impulse to play things for laughs. His previous novel, Headlong , was marred by an insistent humorousness at odds with a dark story, but here he refrains from the jokes that come so easily to him. That he is tempted is shown by some suppressed by play on the name of the definitive shrub of suburbia. Keith, whose spelling is not his strong point, writes 'Privet', meaning 'private', near their favourite hide, which is, as it happens, surrounded by privet. Another from the 2002 Booker longlist, this one is a quiet revelation and a masterly piece of storytelling. They follow her and spy on her and in the process stumble on -- or at least near -- a very different secret. Keith and Stephen grow up in Britain during WW II. When the two kids play a game of imagination that works on the premise that Keith’s mother is a German spy, the boys start following her around, but what they find out is certainly not what they expected and the consequences of their game get out of control.The Spies is about the power of a young boy’s imagination, the trouble it can cause or enlightenment it can offer. There are mystery and suspense in this book and more than a few stunning plot twists. That Frayn is also the author of the play Noises Off, one of the funniest British comedies of all time, amazes me. Stephen discovers the tramp is dying while taking eggs and milk to him, and is asked to give a silk map to Mrs. Hayward to show the man's love for her. However, Stephen is too scared to do so and later that night sees the police taking him away on a stretcher, his face badly mutilated after being hit by a train. Fifty years later, Stephen ties up the loose ends, explaining that the vagabond was in fact Uncle Peter who had gone AWOL and was carrying out an affair with Keith's mother while dying from war wounds. As well as this, it turns out that there was a German spy living in the cul-de-sac: Stephen's father, although he was actually working for the British.

It is an odd, original, haunting little tale in which the teller is the really interesting thing. (...) But the book's real merit lies in the way Stephen comes to understand the truth behind the mysteries of his world by beginning to understand something about the difference between men and women. This is achieved entirely without crudity. (...) (A) modest but memorable book." - Robert Nye, The Times Another strategic move is not to specify Stephen's age (until the end of the book, when Keith's going to boarding school more or less pins it down). Seen from the next century, no one age seems to be able to accommodate so much serious play, such extremes of information and ignorance - to account for a boy expected to know the ablative of quis and the principal exports of Canada, but having no inkling that a boy and a girl unsupervised might experiment not just with cigarettes but with kisses. This is innocence with a vengeance. This is childhood before market forces got to work on it. Spies is one of my favourites. Admittedly, I only read it because it was part of my English Literature A level studies, and most of my class would disagree with me in my affections for this book since it was definitely a challenge to analyse! However, I found that this only deepened my affections and admiration for Frayn's masterpiece.Auntie Dee – Mrs. Hayward's sister, whom she sees every day. Described as very bubbly and a frequent smiler. This is such a sensuous book that at times, while never trying to be poetic or melodic, it comes near to painting or music. (...) The distinction of this novel is in evocation of lost landscape.(...) As always, Frayn has made a usual subject entirely his own." - Jane Gardam, The Spectator

An interesting point of the novel was the presentation of the characters and then how Stephen perceived them after the reader had already come to their own conclusions. For instance, the reader develops a distinct dislike for the men of the Hayward men right from the start, but it takes Stephen really up until the bayonet incident to truly recognise how better off he is without having them as a blood relation. This is what Frayn does really well: taking archaeological strolls down memory lane. "Spies" is subtle, layered and highly revealing of human nature, but he plays fair and doesn't lob the ball of what's actually going on over your head. The characters, both the kids and the adults are well-crafted and the world of the little Close is highly reminiscent of cozy mystery settings. But a lot more sinister and a lot more real. Aside from the understated tact and ingenuity of its mystery plot, Frayn's novel excels in its rendering of the power of early impressions" - John Updike, The New YorkerWell, the time is World War II, and Stephen and his friend Keith become convinced that Keith's mother is a German spy.