Frayn successfully captures the confusions and uncertainties of the adult world as perceived by children, and the difficulties of trying to piece together events from an adult’s memory of childhood. Which are real memories, and which are ‘memories’ of things one has been told, or seen in pictures? He describes, too, the powerlessness of a child – knowing what you want to do, but having to give in to the pressures put on you by adults, however well-meaning. And finally the child’s inability – through lack of experience and knowledge – to understand what is going on in the adult world around him.

This story of how a children’s game goes wrong, with the inevitable consequences, keeps the reader’s interest throughout.