Headlong

Headlong
Genre : Fiction
Published : 1 Jun 2000 - Faber & Faber
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.

Reviews

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