REVIEW OF SPIES

ERIC’S REVIEW 

SPIES 

Michael Frayn

We all have secrets or inventions which we believe to be secrets. And there is nothing more powerful than the inventions of a child, for whom imagined dangers lurk everywhere. In the smells of nature. In the blackness of night. In the terror of the ordinary. In the wonders of a hidden world which reveals little of itself.

Spies is a reflective and intense journey back into the past of a childhood, where everything is not quite as it seemed. 

It tells the tale of young Stephen, his family and boyhood friends in a small village in rural England during WWII as recounted in the first person by the elderly Stephen. 

Smells of plants take on a life of their own. A cottage name echoes down the ages, dredging up intense feelings. Secret hiding places no longer exist as development has erased much of the countryside but are easily recreated by the narration of the man who lived a story which left many questions unanswered. 

But as the book says: some things must never even be known. 

Recounting what this story is actually about would ruin it. Suffice it to say that the writing is of such high quality that it transports you back so that you can actually feel a part of the time, live characters and events through the eyes of a child and gradually unravel the secrets which present themselves. 

Spies is a tale of many threads in the hands of a master weaver. It is the type of book that makes you nod your head in appreciation of the artistry the minute you finish it and give the same nod a few days later. 

Bravo.

4.5 stars