This month the honour goes to.....Skios by Michael Frayn!
The Man Booker Longlisted Skios is a laugh-out-loud farce which traces its lineage back to Wodehouse, via Clockwise, (the film starring John Cleese and written by Frayn). Michael Frayn describes Skios as "a bit of an experiment. I wanted to see if you could do farce as a novel. In the theatre the audience is released by the laughter of the people around them. But with a novel you have an audience of only one; no corporate reaction."
The novel begins in the beautiful greek surroundings of the Fred Toppler Foundation, where PA Nikki Hook plans for the arrival of key note speaker Dr Norman Wilfred. Enter chancer Oliver Fox, who, spotting Nikki's charms as she waits at Arrivals with her placard for Dr Wilfred, decides to take matters into his own hands.
Michael Frayn describes some of his inspiration: "Every time I’ve ever arrived at an airport somewhere – and I’m sure I can’t be the only person who’s thought this – and seen a line of people holding up names, I’ve always thought, what would happen if you went up to someone holding up another name altogether and said, 'I’m so and so’. How far would you get?"
And thus the comedy of errors begins...
Skios is just out in paperback. In this current cold weather it's the perfect antidote!
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