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Spies
Spies
Author: Michael Frayn
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...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780312421175
ISBN-10: 0312421176
Publication Date: 1/18/2003
Pages: 272
Rating:
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 18

3.1 stars, based on 18 ratings
Publisher: Picador
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review
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lectio avatar reviewed Spies on + 88 more book reviews
This is a fascinating book about childhood memories and adult secrets and how they all mesh together. From the beginning pages there is mystery and a hint of something that is not quite right going on. The reader is drawn into the plot as grown up Stephen Wheatley returns to the neighborhood he grew up in during WWII in London and begins to remember how he and his best friend began spying on his mother's mysterious behavior, convinced that she was a Nazi spy. The book is a compelling and extremely well written portrain of childhood innocence, adult deception and lifelong secrecy, and is a stunning example of the fact that it's a mistake to make assumptions about what we observe because often we have no idea about what's really going on.
reviewed Spies on + 323 more book reviews
Whitbread Novel of the Year 2002. Sunday Times says: "A beautifully accomplished, richly nostalgic novel about supposed second-world-war espionage seen through the eyes of a young boy." This was a thoroughly enjoyable book!
reviewed Spies on + 3 more book reviews
Excellent novel. By the author of Noises Off.


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