Spies cover art

Spies

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

Spies

By: Michael Frayn
Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

 In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live, the only immediate signs of the Second World War are the blackout at night and a single random bombsite. But the two boys start to suspect all is not as it seems when one day Keith announces a disconcerting discovery: the Germans have infiltrated his own family. And when the secret underground world they have dreamed up emerges from the shadows, they find themselves engulfed in mysteries far deeper and more painful than they had bargained for.©2002 Michael Frayn (P)2006 Time Warner AudioBooks Historical Fiction Fiction

Listeners also enjoyed...

 All My Sons cover art
Copenhagen cover art
Othello (Dramatized) cover art
Cider with Rosie cover art
The Kite Runner cover art
The Landscape of Love cover art
The Sun Also Rises cover art
The Premonitions Bureau cover art
Master of the Moor cover art

Critic reviews

"A beautifully accomplished, richly nostalgic novel about supposed second-world-war espionage seen through the eyes of a young boy." ( Sunday Times)
All stars
Most relevant  
Brilliantly read! The story is delightful and original and Michael Frayn keeps the suspense to the very end . 'Spies' shouldn't have been abridged in my opinion, as every line is wonderful. More of Frayn's books please!

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Martin Jarvis is always a joy to listen to, his PG Wodehouse narrations are just perfect.

This story starts off with a kind of Marcel Proustish olfactory motif and is evocative of an England that for better or worse is long gone.

An England of quiet desperation, unrequited desires, unspoken suffering and untreated PTSD.

The narrator is an infuriatingly weak and cowardly little twerp which is by turns amusing and maddening.

All in all a pretty interesting listen, but definitely not uplifting.

Spies

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed this book. I'm not at all a big book reader but trying to read more, but I found this book slightly complicating and strange at the start but once you get into the book it is really exciting and everything makes sense. Really recommend to read this.

Really gripping

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.