Michael Frayn

While foundation organizer Nikki falls for a charismatic speaker during a science retreat on a Greek island, her longtime friend, Georgie, finds her plans for a romantic weekend shattered by a temperamental scientist who has lost his senses.

"Copenhagen is a reimagining of the mysterious wartime meeting between two Nobel laureates to discuss the atomic bomb. In 1941 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg made a strange trip to Copenhagen to see his Danish counterpart, Niels Bohr. They were old friends and close colleagues, and they had revolutionized atomic physics in the 1920s with their work together on quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. But now the world had changed,...

The William Morris Institute of Automation Research is working hard to simplify our lives by programming computers to carry out life's routine tasks. Whether it's resolving ethical dilemmas, writing pornographic novels, saying prayers, or watching sports, these automation experts are developing machines to handle it all, enabling us to enjoy more free time. But when it's announced that the Queen will be paying a royal visit and the Institute's madcap...

'Once upon a time there will be a little girl called Uncumber . . .' Uncumber lives in the distant future, in a world sharply divided between 'Insiders' and 'Outsiders'. The Insiders lead a privileged existence: never having to leave their homes, they enjoy a vastly prolonged lifespan, a regular supply of food and mind-altering drugs, and holographic entertainment at the push of a button. Meanwhile, the Outsiders, half-savage, inhabit a polluted...

Set in the waning years of London's Fleet Street, this is the story of John Dyson and his colleagues in the crossword and nature-notes section of an obscure London newspaper. The ambitious young Dyson dreams wistfully of trading his dead-end job for the fame and fortune to be found in a career in television. But when he finally gets his big break - an invitation to appear on a TV program - it turns out instead to be the beginning of a series of hilarious...