Spies

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Barbara joins Stephen in the hideout, and they are discovered by Stephen's father, who instructs Stephen to take the basket with him. Stephen's parents take the basket, leaving Stephen feeling guilty, worried that the man will go hungry. The theme of Spies felt very familiar, a theme recurrent in film and literature, for instance in Whistle Down The Wind, in The Go-Between and, of course, in Atonement. I seem to remember saying Atonement was like the Go Between, now I'm saying Spies is like the Go Between and Atonement . How long before there is a book that is like the Go Between, Atonement and Spies? Stephen begins bringing the story to a close, as (in the present) he revisits the tunnel and the Lanes and thinks about the hidden scarf. He describes what had happened after that night: he never played with Keith again, Uncle Peter had gone missing, and there was a falling out between Auntie Dee and Keith’s mother. Stephen finally reveals that he himself was the secret German, because he used to be “Stefan Weitzler.” He explains that his family had moved from Germany before the war had started and, since his mother was English, they all became the Wheatleys. He also reveals that they are Jewish, though Stephen hadn’t known this growing up.

Frayn withholds information presumably to allow Stephen to relive the whole process of obtaining (guilty) knowledge, of losing innocence; unfortunately he goes about it in a far too heavy-handed way. What do we see from our vantage point in the meantime? Or dream that we see, or imagine that we see, or imagine later that we remembered seeing?” Spies is a psychological novel written by novelist and playwright Micheal Frayn. It was published in 2002 and received the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, the 2002 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book in 2003. The following day, Stephen gathers provisions from his parents' pantry and embarks on his mission to deliver the groceries. As he approaches the entrance of the hideout, he hears the man coughing from inside. Stephen leaves the basket near the entrance, preparing to depart, when a familiar voice calls his name. The voice is British and reminiscent of someone he knows. Curiosity piqued, Stephen inquires about Keith's family. Frozen in place, he leaves only when the man hands him a piece of silk, instructing him to give it to Keith's mother. Throughout the story, it is fairly evident that Keith and the Haywards are better-off financially than Stephen and the Wheatleys. However, this class difference is not simply an arbitrary distinction; the gap in wealth between the two families defines all aspects of Stephen’s relationship to Keith. More significantly, Frayn allows the reader to see, through young Stephen’s eyes, how class permeated the social arrangement and attitudes in wartime London.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. Events in the Close don't bear close examination, even if the secrets the boys uncover, without quite understanding them, are relatively mundane. No less painful for that. Stephen Wheatley – A shy boy who finds himself drawn into Keith's games and is a frequent target of school bullies. The book hints at that Stephen suffers from OCD, and seems to be sexually attracted to Barbara.

There are so many levels to Spies. It is complex, as Frayn chooses to narrate this story almost as a stream of consciousness, where events are disjointed and half remembered, then returned to later and expanded upon. It follows his train of thought, rather than a chronological sequence of events. This can make it difficult to read at times, however it captures the essence of a person revisiting old memories. It mimics how our thoughts and memories work - each triggered by stimuli, such as a scent, a place, a feeling, and how they do not always follow a logical direction but may in turn, trigger other memories which may be linked in some way. Frayn captures this exceptionally well. There are smells and sounds and words, and it's all enough -- too much ! too much ! -- to make a reader gag. In a dreamlike sequence, Stephen sees his younger self exiting the house and roaming the neighborhood. He mentions Barbara and Deirdre, two girls known for their wild behavior due to their father's absence during the war. Stephen also notes that his older brother, Geoff, spent time with one of the girls. However, Stephen's closest friend was Keith, who lived at No. 9, came from a wealthy family, and preferred playing at his own lavish house. 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 Yorker Some of the data that the sexually innocent Stephen records does seem to hold clues about adult sexuality. He reads Keith's mother's diary and finds that she has marked a day with a mysterious x about once a month, and three days in the course of six months (including her wedding anniversary) with an exclamation mark. Stephen thinks that the latter indicates successful sabotage operations; seeing Mrs Hayward's unappealing husband, we might have another idea. Stephen finds out that Barbara Berrill, a girl from a neighbouring house, has in her turn been spying on him, and is offered by her the predictable explanation of adult behaviour. Perhaps Mrs Hayward's sister, whose husband is away flying bombers, has a lover. Perhaps Mrs Hayward does too. For a sophisticated reader, or for any re-reader of the novel, one of the pleasures of plot-detection is seeing that the explanation of Mrs Hayward's behaviour might be different from the most obvious one.Frayn tries his best to evoke a feeling of nostalgia and lost youth and innocence and present an old man seeking to recapture time past, but he doesn't succeed.

The two boys start surveilling Keith's mother during her daily errands, taking notes on her interactions and growing suspicious of those she associates with. In their exploration of her sitting room, they find a diary marked with an X for each month. Startled by her return, they hide and retreat to discuss in the shrubs near Durrant's house.

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. In terms of genre, Spies is detective narrative that revolves around nostalgia, with key themes like identity, fear, social class, male power and authority and time. It follows an old man's recollection of his childhood post 1945, referring to his younger self in third person. When childhood friend Keith Hayward reveals to younger Stephen that his mother has infiltrated his family by being a German spy, both boys' imaginations override and open to misinterpretations. The mystery isn't too big a mystery, only the exact details remain vague until the end, but Stephen and Keith manage to make more of a mess of things as they go along. I thought it very obvious, very early who was being helped on the other side of the tunnel, though there might have been some slight suspense about why it was Keith's mother (were we told her name? I don't remember) doing the helping, though I suspect that was obvious too. But it didn't really matter. The strength of the book was in all the undertones and little details – what really went on behind the privet. Keith's father, for example, was a chilling character that I disliked intensely from his first appearance and although I suppose he was a tragic character of sorts, I didn't have an ounce of sympathy for him. Not so, Keith. Keith had all the signs of turning out a bully just like his father, but I did have some sympathy for him, though I didn't think Frayn showed him much.

Stephen, in conversation with a Girl, naturally doesn't dare admit his ignorance of the word, and concludes it means something dirty, specifically the outside lavatories of the poor. Privet in the book, along with Stephen's other fears (germs and bosoms), stays just the right side of the dividing line between leitmotiv and running gag. The final explanations are more than expected, and shed a new light on much that came before (from simple details like Stephen's fathers stance on bullies) -- but much of that was lost in Frayn's awkward narrative perspective. 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. None of them seem quite to fit" -- and old man Stephen knows exactly why but he won't say until the bitter end.Spies (2002) is a psychological novel by English author and dramatist Michael Frayn. It is currently studied by A-Level, and some GCSE, literature students in various schools. It is also studied by some Year 12 VCE English students in Australia. The book is narrated by Stephen Wheatley, now an old man, who reminisces about events that happened in his childhood, during World War II. 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. 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.