An unlikely con man wagers wife, wealth, and sanity in pursuit of an elusive Old Master.
Supremely wise and wickedly funny, Headlong elevates Frayn into the front rank of contemporary novelists..
With this new novel, Michael Frayn has given us entertainment of the highest order.
And at the heart of the clamor is Breugel\'s vision, its dark tones warning of the real risks of temptation and obsession.
All are burdened by human muddle and human cravings; all are searching for a moral compass as they grapple with greed, folly, and desire.
In Headlong, Michael Frayn, "the master of what is seriously funny" (Anthony Burgess), offers a procession of superbly realized characters, from the country squire gone to seed to his giddy, oversexed young wife.
So begins a hilarious trail of lies and concealments, desperate schemes and soaring hopes as Martin, betting all that he owns and much that he doesn\'t, embarks on a quest to prove his hunch, win his wife over, and separate the painting from its owner.
But hiding beneath the soot is nothing less-Martin believes-than a lost work by Bruegel.
Invited to dinner by the boorish local landowner, Martin Clay, an easily distracted philosopher, and his art-historian wife are asked to assess three dusty paintings blocking the draught from the chimney.
An unlikely con man wagers wife, wealth, and sanity in pursuit of an elusive Old Master
