The Copenhagen Papers

"A deliciously intricate, whimsically philosophical little intrigue . . . The greatest fun of The Copenhagen Papers is the companionship of Mr. Frayn and Mr. Burke, who take turns writing chapters and display plenty of wry British charm."—The New York Times

"Comic and intriguing . . . [An] ingenious book about human gullibility and the incomprehensibility of one's own behavior."—Library Journal

"An entertaining [game] of historical cat-and-mouse . . . Another good yarn from Frayn."—Kirkus Reviews

"Englishman Frayn is best known in the U.S. for his wild comedy Noises Off, about a slipshod theater troupe slogging through the provinces. In it Frayn deconstructs the mildly titillating British farce, showing in successive acts how a production decays on the road. This whimsical intellectual romp is also a backstage revelation. It tells the story of a minor hoax Frayn was drawn into. During the run of his hit play Copenhagen, Frayn received notes supposedly made by Nazi scientists held in detention after the war. He was hooked like a trout. The fact that this hoax had been cooked up by Burke, one of the play's stars, makes the situation and the book all the more delicious. In alternating chapters, Frayn and Burke recount their sides of the story. Frayn puzzles over the seemingly invaluable papers in one chapter, and then, in the next, Burke details, hilariously, how he faked the documents. Frayn and Burke are both strong writers, so that the end of this short, wry, entertaining memoir comes all too quickly."—Jack Helbig, Booklist