The Trick of It - Softcover

"This is a book about who owns the livingness of the living writer; it is funny, moving, intricately constructed and done with an observant wisdom. it also has some of the best jokes...a delight." -Malcolm Bradbury, "Sunday Times" (London) "The pace and edge of this novel are swift and cutting; its theme is philosophical and literary....Michael Frayn is a master of what is seriously funny." -"Guardian "(London) "He uses a comic technique for themes that are not funny at all. The reader is softened at first by laughter...but then a latent gravity becomes patent though the touch remains light." -Anthony Burgess, "Observer "(London)

He knows everything about her before they meet; more about her nine novels that she does herself. He has devoted his life to studying and teaching them and yet he is four times as clever as she is. Now, as she steps off the train in London, something about her in the flesh sets him thinking. Maybe he has a chance to resolve the one remaining mystery at the heart of things. . . Through a series of letters sent by a minor English Literature academic to his old friend in Australia, Frayn combines a vivid and moving study of obsession, with a witty and playful account of what it's like to be on the fringes of the creative process. Michael Frayn is the celebrated author of fifteen plays including Noises Off, Copenhagen and Afterlife. His bestselling novels include Headlong, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Spies, which won the Whitbread Best Novel Award and Skios, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.