Getting Started

To get started, we worked with the paratext, i.e. all the elements that surround the text in the different editions: cover photographs, blurb, author biography, foreword, table of contents, etc. We compared the two editions that we have in class: my  Heinemann New Windmill Series hard cover edition, and the Students´ Picador paperback.
First, we read the blurb of the Picador edition, which provides some general information about the setting  (a suburban street in wartime London),  the plot  (a spying adventure that ends up in catastrophe) and the main characters of the book (Keith and his "sidekick" Stephen). It also informs us that the  the novel is structured around Stephen Wheatley´s childhood memories,  and that some of its themes are: childhood, innocence, secrecy, lies and repressed violence. 
Next, we focused our attention on the front cover photographs. Both editions show people going through a sort of tunnel. The colours outside the tunnel are dark, and we agreed that they suggest mystery, danger and secrecy. In the Heinemman edition, the tunnel is covered by dense vegetation, which seems to stress its hidden nature. Inside the tunnel, in both editions there is light. In the Heinemman one, the light is only insinuated and it appears at the end of the tunnel, whereas in the Picador one, there is a blazing light coming from behind. We came to the conclusion that the light may be suggesting some sort of discovery. The ideas of mystery and discovery are coherent both with the title of the book: "Spies", and the summary the blurb provides.
The  difference between the cover photos of the two editions is mainly the people who are going through the tunnel. In the Picador edition, there are two boys. One is leading the way and the other is following. We deduced they had to be Keith and Stephen. In the Heinemann edition, there is only one figure in the tunnel, and it cannot be clearly seen. It seems to be a woman.
With these deductions, ideas and hypotheses in mind, we felt ready-and eager- to start chapter one.