Allen & Unwin The Tin Men book Fiction English Paperback 208 pages

The Tin Men is Michael Frayn's first novel. It won the Somerset Maugham Award and examines technology, computers and automation with humour, elegance and wit.

Why not programme computers to take over the really dull jobs that human beings have to do - such as praying and behaving morally? At the William Morris Institute of Automaton Research they are doing just that to free mankind for the really stimulating and demanding tasks of living today - first and foremost the impending visit of Her Majesty the Queen to open its new wing

Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a journalist on the Guardian and the Observer. His novels include Towards the End of the Morning, The Trick of It and A Landing on the Sun. Headlong (1999) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and Spies (2002) won the Whitbread Best Novel Award. His most recent novel, Skios, was longlisted for the Booker Prize. His fifteen plays range from Noises Off to Copenhagen and, most recently, Afterlife. He is married to the writer Claire Tomalin.