Michael Frayn, a modern English writer of the older generation, gained fame as a novelist, playwright and translator of Russian classical literature. The novel "Obsessed" is a funny story about the dangerous and exciting adventures of an art scientist who is on the trail of an unknown painting by Bruegel. Tempted by the specter of fame, the book's protagonist conceives a mind-boggling scheme to take possession of a priceless work of art. The adventures of a modern swindler (the book has all the necessary components of a detective story: mystery, chase, shooting, escaping prey) are intertwined with the events of the life of the heretic Bruegel, who worked under the nose of the cardinal during the rampant Inquisition. In 1999, this Chekhovian funny and at the same time sad novel about the delight and despair of scientific research, about the restless human soul, about the distant and mysterious, about the modern and delightful, was nominated for the Booker Prize.