Headlong

When Martin Clay, a young would-be art historian, suddenly comes upon the one chance to change his life and career forever, he doesn’t hesitate to seize it: a Brueghel painting, hidden away and forgotten in an old country home. Increasingly obsessed with the painting, Martin finds himself drawn, step by step, into a moral and intellectual labyrinth, lured by the dangerous promises of financial and professional ambitions. Profound, funny and erudite, HEADLONG is a plain delight.

"Frayn's plot - a high-precision feat of fictional engineering - accelerates exhilaratingly . . . a black and brilliant comedy of uncertainties." - Sunday Times

"Ingenious ... As entertaining as it is intelligent, as stimulating as it is funny." - New York Times

"As you are dragged into this headlong race for fame and fortune, you never know what will happen next, only that more torture lies in store." - Independent on Sunday