Books by John le Carre

Portrait of John le Carre

John le Carré, the master of the modern spy novel, brings an unmatched depth of intelligence and humanity to his stories of betrayal, loyalty, and moral ambiguity. Drawing on his own experience in British intelligence, his writing captures the subtle tensions of the Cold War and the personal cost of living behind masks and secrets.

Each of his novels is crafted with precision, from the intricate plotting of *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy* to the emotional resonance of *The Constant Gardener*. Le Carré's characters are never mere agents or villains but fully realised individuals navigating a world where truth is a shifting currency. His legacy endures as a benchmark of literary espionage and moral insight.

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113 products


  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    Penguin Books Ltd The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe classic Cold War thriller, published as a Penguin Essential for the first time.Alec Leamas is tired. It''s the 1960s, he''s been out in the cold for years, spying in Berlin for his British masters, and has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment. He must travel deep into the heart of Communist Germany and betray his country, a job that he will do with his usual cynical professionalism. But when George Smiley tries to help a young woman Leamas has befriended, Leamas''s mission may prove to be the worst thing he could ever have done. In le Carré''s breakthrough work of 1963, the spy story is reborn as a gritty and terrible tale of men who are caught up in politics beyond their imagining.''Superbly constructed, with an atmosphere of chilly hell'' J.B. Priestley''The best spy story I have ever read'' Graham Greene''The master storyteller ... has lost none of his cunning'' A. N. Wilson''I have re-read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold over and over again since I first encountered it in my teens, just to remind myself how extraordinary a work of fiction can be'' Malcolm Gladwell''One of those very rare novels that changes the way you look at the world. Unflinching, highly sophisticated, superb'' William BoydTrade ReviewPassionate, intense, wonderful -- David NichollsThe best spy story I have ever read -- Graham GreeneA masterpiece, the best espionage novel ever written -- John BanvilleOne of those writers who will be read a century from now -- Robert Harris

    15 in stock

    £8.54

  • The Little Drummer Girl

    Penguin Books Ltd The Little Drummer Girl

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Wonderful'' The New York TimesCharlie, a jobbing young English actress, is accustomed to playing different roles. But when the mysterious, battle-scarred Joseph recruits her into the Israeli secret services, she enters the dangerous ''theatre of the real''. As she acts out her part in an intricate, high-stakes plot to trap and kill a Palestinian terrorist, it threatens to consume her.Set in the tragic arena of the Middle East conflict, this compelling story of love and torn loyalties plays out against the backdrop of an unwinnable war. ''The Little Drummer Girl is about spies as Madame Bovary is about adultery or Crime and Punishment about crime'' The New York Times

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Constant Gardener

    Penguin Books Ltd The Constant Gardener

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis''The book breathes life, anger and excitement'' ObserverTessa Quayle, a brilliant and beautiful young social activist, has been found brutally murdered by Lake Turkana in Nairobi. The rumours are that she was faithless, careless, but her husband Justin, a reserved, garden-loving British diplomat, refuses to believe them. As he sets out to discover what really happened to Tessa, he unearths a conspiracy more disturbing, and more deadly, than he could ever have imagined.A blistering exposé of global corruption, The Constant Gardener is also the moving portrayal of a man searching for justice for the woman he has barely had time to love. ''A cracking thriller'' Economist

    15 in stock

    £9.99

  • Karlas Choice

    Penguin Books Ltd Karlas Choice

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisDISCOVER THE MOST-TALKED ABOUT THRILLER OF THE YEAR . . .Reads like a lost le Carrè. Smiley is back at the Circus in the safest of hands' RICHARD OSMANKarla's Choice is a note-perfect tribute to le Carré that feels fresh and new' MICK HERRONLe Carre's legacy is in good hands Smiley is back with a vengeance!' IAN RANKIN--- --- ---It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus.With the wreckage of the West''s spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only on a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall unconfirmed and a little scandalous that George Smiley might almost be happy.But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead.But in his absence the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy--- --- ---Set in the missing decade between two iconic novels starring George Smiley, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, this is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the world of spymaster John le Carré, written by the author's son and acclaimed novelist, Nick Harkaway.An exceptional espionage novel in its own right' WILLIAM BOYDHarkaway has done an extraordinarily good job with his father's legacy' TELEGRAPHAn accomplished homage and a captivating thriller' THE ECONOMIST

    15 in stock

    £14.39

  • Our Kind of Traitor

    Penguin Books Ltd Our Kind of Traitor

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn John le Carré''s electrifying novel Our Kind of Traitor, innocents abroad are drawn into the darkest recesses of the financial world.Britain is in the depths of recession. A left-leaning young Oxford academic and his barrister girlfriend take an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula and a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb, and wants a game of tennis.What else he wants propels the young lovers on a tortuous journey through Paris to a safe house in the Swiss Alps, to the murkiest cloisters of the City of London and its unholy alliance with Britain''s Intelligence Establishment.''If you want to know about the state of Britain today, forget the Booker shortlist. Just read John le Carré''s latest thriller'' Evening Standard''Few recent plays have had dialogue as good, and few recent literary novels can boast a set of characters so vividly imagined. Our Kind of Traitor is a teasing, beguiling, masterly performance'' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewA remarkable book by the master. Reading it is a great experience -- Henning Mankell * Daily Telegraph *A compelling tale of deceit, dialogue and the author's own despair . . . This is a story with frenzy at its heart -- James Naughtie * Daily Telegraph *John le Carré's bullet train of a new thriller is part vintage John le Carré and part Alfred Hitchcock . . . The author's most thrilling thriller in years * The New York Times *If you want to know about the state of Britain today, forget the Booker shortlist. Just read John le Carré's latest thriller * Evening Standard *Few recent plays have had dialogue as good, and few recent literary novels can boast a set of characters so vividly imagined. Our Kind of Traitor is a teasing, beguiling, masterly performance * Sunday Times *A compelling tale of deceit, dialogue and the author's own despair John le Carré's greatest gift may be his ear, which allows him to pick up a tremor of fear in the softest voice or a false note in any exchange of words and play with them to his heart's content. He can therefore create, in dialogue, a trembling soundscape that has a pitch-perfect quality * Sunday Telegraph *Chilling and astute . . . In Our Kind of Traitor, there is not a hair out of place . . . le Carré has done it again for our nasty new age * The Times *

    5 in stock

    £8.99

  • The Night Manager: A Novel

    Random House USA Inc The Night Manager: A Novel

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £17.00

  • The Honourable Schoolboy

    Penguin Books Ltd The Honourable Schoolboy

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn the second part of John le Carré''s Karla Trilogy, the battle of wits between spymaster George Smiley and his Russian adversary takes on an even more dangerous dimension.George Smiley, now acting head of the Circus, must rebuild its shattered reputation after one of the biggest betrayals in its history. Using the talents of journalist and occasional spy Jerry Westerby, Smiley launches a risky operation uncovering a Russian money-laundering scheme in the Far East. His aim: revenge on Karla, head of Moscow Centre and the architect of all his troubles. ''Energy, compassion, rich and overwhelming sweep of character and action'' The Times''A remarkable sequel ... the achievement is in the characters, major and minor ... all burned on the brain of the reader'' The New York TimesTHE SIXTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • Ullstein Taschenbuchvlg. Der Nachtmanager

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £13.49

  • Large Print Press A Delicate Truth

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis

    Out of stock

    £16.19

  • A Private Spy

    Penguin Books Ltd A Private Spy

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisJohn le Carré was a defining writer of his time. This enthralling collection letters - written to readers, publishers, film-makers and actors, politicians and public figures - reveals the playfully intelligent and unfailingly eloquent man behind the penname._____''The symbiosis of author and editor, father and son, has resulted in a brilliant book, le Carré''s final masterpiece'' 5*, Jake Kerridge, Sunday Telegraph_____A Private Spy spans seven decades and chronicles not only le Carré''s own life but the turbulent times to which he was witness. Beginning with his 1940s childhood, it includes accounts of his National Service and his time at Oxford, and his days teaching the ''chinless, pointy-nosed gooseberry-eyed British lords'' at Eton. It describes his entry into MI5 and the rise of the Iron Curtain, and the flowering of his career as a novelist in reaction to the building of the Berlin Wall. Through his letters we travel with him from the Second World War period to the immediate moment in which we live. We find le Carré writing to Sir Alec Guinness to persuade him to take on the role of George Smiley, and later arguing the immorality of the War on Terror with the chief of the German internal security service. What emerges is a portrait not only of the writer, or of the global intellectual, but, in his own words, of the very private, very passionate and very real man behind the name._____Includes letters to:John BanvilleWilliam BurroughsJohn CheeverStephen FryGraham GreeneSir Alec GuinnessHugh LaurieBen MacintyreIan McEwanGary OldmanPhilip RothPhilippe SandsSir Tom StoppardMargaret ThatcherAnd more...Trade ReviewEach letter from John le Carré was a beautifully written miniature essay ... fascinating -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *A Private Spy testifies to le Carré's universally acknowledged gifts as a raconteur, mimic and caricaturist -- Robert Potts * TLS *Unsurprisingly, he was a brilliant correspondent. Revelations tumble out...These engaging letters are edited with great fairness and sensitivity by a family member, his son Tim Cornwell -- Andrew Lycett * Mail on Sunday *The symbiosis of author and editor, father and son, has resulted in a brilliant book, le Carré's final masterpiece, 5* -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Telegraph *The finest, wisest storyteller -- Richard OsmanA towering writer -- Margaret Atwood[He had a] rare command of language and unique understanding of how the world really works * Daily Telegraph on Silverview *A literary giant -- Stephen King

    1 in stock

    £13.49

  • The Constant Gardener

    Bolinda Publishing The Constant Gardener

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisThe beautiful Tessa Quayle is murdered near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, the birthplace of mankind. And her putative African lover and travelling companion has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa's husband, a career diplomat and amateur gardener at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive. On his way he meets terror, violence and conspiracy, but his greatest discovery is the woman he barely had time to love.Frightening, heartbreaking and exquisitely calibrated, The Constant Gardener is a profoundly moving story of a man ennobled by his wife''s tragic murder, and a magnificent exploration of the dark side of unbridled capitalism.

    Out of stock

    £14.24

  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisAll cats are alike in the dark. At the height of the Cold War, disillusioned British spy Alec Leamas is persuaded to stay out in the cold' for one last risky operation against the powerful leader of the East German Secret Service. But Leamas has committed a cardinal error: he's fallen in love. After a lifetime of deception and betrayal, can there be room for humanity in the ruthlessly manipulative world of international espionage?The first ever John le Carré novel to be adapted for the stage, this award-winning 1963 thriller has been hailed as a modern masterpiece. Leading playwright David Eldridge creates this gripping theatrical version. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre in August 2024.

    3 in stock

    £10.99

  • The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    Penguin Books Ltd The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisFrom the master of spy thrillers, John le Carré''s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a gripping story of love and betrayal at the height of the Cold War. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an afterword by the author and an introduction by William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart.Alec Leamas is tired. It''s the 1960s, he''s been out in the cold for years, spying in the shadow of the Berlin Wall for his British masters. He has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment. He must travel deep into the heart of Communist Germany and betray his country, a job that he will do with his usual cynical professionalism. But when George Smiley tries to help a young woman Leamas has befriended, Leamas''s mission may prove to be the worst thing he could ever have done. In le Carré''s breakthrough work of 1963, the spy story is reborn as a gritty and terrible tale of men who are caught up in politics beyond their imagining. ''A portrait of a man who has lived by lies and subterfuge for so long, he''s forgotten how to tell the truth'' Time''He can communicate emotion, from sweating fear to despairing love, with terse and compassionate conviction. Above all, he can tell a tale'' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewSuperbly constructed, with an atmosphere of chilly hell -- J.B. PriestleyThe best spy story I have ever read -- Graham GreeneThe master storyteller ... has lost none of his cunning -- A. N. WilsonI have re-read The Spy Who Came In From The Cold over and over again since I first encountered it in my teens, just to remind myself how extraordinary a work of fiction can be. * Malcolm Gladwell *One of those very rare novels that changes the way you look at the world. Unflinching, highly sophisticated, superb. * William Boyd *

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Russia House

    Penguin Books Ltd The Russia House

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisJohn le Carré''s first post-glasnost spy novel, The Russia House captures the effect of a slow and uncertain thaw on ordinary people and on the shadowy puppet-masters who command themBarley Blair is not a Service man: he is a small-time publisher, a self-destructive soul whose only loves are whisky and jazz. But it was Barley who, one drunken night at a dacha in Peredelkino during the Moscow Book Fair, was befriended by a high-ranking Soviet scientist who could be the greatest asset to the West since perestroika began, and made a promise. Nearly a year later, his drunken promise returns to haunt him. A reluctant Barley is quickly trained by British Intelligence and sent to Moscow to liaise with a go-between, the beautiful Katya. Both are lonely and disillusioned. Each is increasingly certain that if the human race is to have any future, all must betray their countries ...If you enjoyed The Russia House, you might like le Carré''s The Secret Pilgrim, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''Classic le Carré'' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewClassic le Carré * Sunday Times *

    4 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Secret Pilgrim

    Penguin Books Ltd The Secret Pilgrim

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe eighth of John le Carré''s espionage novels to feature his most enduring and well-loved character, George Smiley, and a gripping feat of narrative brilliance, The Secret Pilgrim is published in Penguin Modern Classics with an afterword by the author.The Cold War is over and Ned has been demoted to the training academy. He asks his old mentor, George Smiley, to address his passing-out class. There are no laundered reminiscences; Smiley speaks the truth - perhaps the last the students will ever hear. As they listen, Ned recalls his own painful triumphs and inglorious failures, in a career that took him from the Western Isles of Scotland to Hamburg and from Israel to Cambodia. He asks himself: Did it do any good? What did it do to me? And what will happen to us now? In this late Smiley novel, the great spy gives his own humane and unexpected answers.If you enjoyed The Secret Pilgrim, you might like le Carré''s The Spy Who Came In From the Cold,

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • A Murder of Quality

    Penguin Books Ltd A Murder of Quality

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisStella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School: firstly by being the wrong sort, with her doilies and china ducks, and secondly by being murdered. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate. Smiley knows that Stella feared her husband would murder her, but as he probes further beneath Carne''s respectable veneer, he uncovers far more than a simple crime of passion. In his second novel, le Carré moves outside the world of espionage to reveal the secrets at the heart of another particularly English institution. The result is a pitch-perfect murder mystery, with George Smiley as master detective.THE SECOND GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL''Beautifully intelligent, satiric and witty'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewBeautifully elegant, satiric and witty * Telegraph *

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • A Small Town in Germany

    Penguin Books Ltd A Small Town in Germany

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Brilliant, unforgettable ... a masterpiece'' New StatesmanWest Germany in the 1960s is a simmering cauldron of radical protests. Amid the turmoil Leo Harting, a Second Secretary in the British Embassy, has gone missing - along with more than forty Confidential embassy files. Alan Turner of the Foreign Office must travel to Bonn to recover them. As he gets closer to the truth of Harting''s disappearance, he will discover that the face of Cold War Europe - and the attentions of the British Ministry itself - are far uglier that he could possibly have imagined. Le Carré''s searing Cold War novel creates a world where the lines between right and wrong, good and evil, are horribly blurred.''Exciting, compulsively readable and brilliantly plotted'' The New York TimesWith an Introduction by Hari KunzruTrade ReviewExciting, compulsively readable and brilliantly plotted * The New York Times *Brilliant, unforgettable ... a masterpiece * New Statesman *

    2 in stock

    £8.54

  • The Looking Glass War

    Penguin Books Ltd The Looking Glass War

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Cold War thriller from the master of spy fiction, John le Carré''s The Looking Glass War is a gripping novel of double-crosses, audacious bluffs and the ever-present threat of nuclear war, published in Penguin Modern Classics.When the Department - faded since the war and busy only with bureaucratic battles - hears rumour of a missile base near the West German border, it seems like the perfect opportunity to regain some political standing in the Intelligence market place. The Cold War is at its height and the Department is dying for a piece of the action.Swiftly becoming carried away by fear and pride, the Department and her officers send deactivated agent Fred Leiser back into East Germany, armed only with some schoolboy training and his memories of the war. In the land of eloquent silence that is Communist East Germany, Leiser''s fate becomes inseparable from the Department''s.If you enjoyed The Looking Glass War, you might like le Carré''s The Secret Pilgrim, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''A devastating and tragic record of human, not glamour, spies'' New York Herald Tribune''A book of rare and great power'' Financial TimesTrade ReviewA book of rare and great power * Financial Times *A devastating and tragic record of human, not glamour, spies * New York Herald Tribune *

    10 in stock

    £9.49

  • Call for the Dead

    Penguin Books Ltd Call for the Dead

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe first of his peerless novels of Cold War espionage and international intrigue, Call for the Dead is also the debut of John le Carré''s masterful creation George Smiley. After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the man''s death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan''s widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man''s death than the Circus previously imagined? Le Carré''s first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit.If you enjoyed Call for the Dead, you might like le Carré''s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard'' Sunday Telegraph''Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense'' ObserverTrade ReviewIntelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard. * Sunday Telegraph *Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense. * Observer *The greatest spy novelist of all time ... astounding works of the imagination. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *Brilliant, popular, intelligent, thrilling, suspenseful, angry, original, masterful writing. Can't be topped. -- Armando IannucciAn extraordinary writer who brought literary lustre and lived insight to the spy yarn. -- Ian RankinOne of those writers who will be read a century from now. -- Robert HarrisHis Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century. -- Margaret AtwoodWhat Joseph Conrad started, John le Carré enshrined and made modern. That is the real achievement of his great novels and why they will endure ... we should see him as our contemporary Dickens. -- William Boyd * New Statesman *Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense * Observer *Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard * Sunday Telegraph *

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Night Manager

    Penguin Books Ltd The Night Manager

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn The Night Manager, John le Carré''s first post-Cold War novel, an ex-soldier helps British Intelligence penetrate the secret world of ruthless arms dealers.''Le Carré is the equal of any novelist now writing in English'' Guardian''A marvellously observed relentless tale'' ObserverAt the start of it all, Jonathan Pine is merely the night manager at a luxury hotel. But when a single attempt to pass on information to the British authorities - about an international businessman at the hotel with suspicious dealings - backfires terribly, and people close to Pine begin to die, he commits himself to a battle against powerful forces he cannot begin to imagine.In a chilling tale of corrupt intelligence agencies, billion-dollar price tags and the truth of the brutal arms trade, John le Carré creates a claustrophobic world in which no one can be trusted.''Complex and intense ... page-turning tension'' San Francisco Chronicle''When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré ... they were a journey into the wider world ... These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind'' Aung San Suu Kyi''One of those writers who will be read a century from now'' Robert HarrisTrade ReviewA beautifully polished, utterly knowing, and palpitating book. * Time *A marvellously observed relentless tale. * Observer *One of those writers who will be read a century from now. -- Robert HarrisComplex and intense ... page-turning tension. * San Francisco Chronicle *When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré ... they were a journey into the wider world ... These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind -- Aung San Suu KyiOne of those writers who will be read a century from now -- Robert HarrisHe can communicate emotion, from sweating fear to despairing love, with terse and compassionate conviction * Sunday Times (on 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold') *Return of the master . . . Having plumbed the devious depths of the Cold War, le Carré has done it again for our nasty new age * The Times (on 'Our Kind of Traitor') *

    15 in stock

    £9.99

  • Our Game

    Penguin Books Ltd Our Game

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisLe Carré''s post-Cold War masterpiece, filled with suspense, betrayal, desire and dramaThe Cold War is over and retired secret servant Tim Cranmer has been put out to pasture, spending his days making wine on his Somerset estate. But then he discovers that his former double agent Larry - dreamer, dissolute, philanderer and disloyal friend - has vanished, along with Tim''s mistress. As their trail takes him to the lawless wilds of Russia and the North Caucasus, he is forced to question everything he stood for.Set in a fragmented, uncertain post-Soviet world, le Carré''s brutal story of falsehoods and betrayal shows men playing dangerous games beyond their control.Trade ReviewA wonderful book ... I cannot think of a more compelling read * Financial Times *An absorbing and thought-provoking piece of work * The Times Literary Supplement *Le Carré is in the first rank -- Ian McEwan

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Tailor of Panama

    Penguin Books Ltd The Tailor of Panama

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis''A work of rare brilliance'' The TimesCharmer, fabulist and tailor to Panama''s rich and powerful, Harry Pendel loves to tell stories. But when the British spy Andrew Osnard - a man of large appetites, for women, information and above all money - walks into his shop, Harry''s fantastical inventions take on a life of their own. Soon he finds himself out of his depth in an international game he can never hope to win. Le Carré''s savage satire on the espionage trade is set in a corrupt universe without heroes or honour, where the innocent are collateral damage and treachery plays out as tragic farce. ''A tour de force in which almost every convention of the classic spy novel is violated'' The New York Times Book Review

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Absolute Friends

    Penguin Books Ltd Absolute Friends

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''One of his most enthralling creations'' Daily TelegraphBroke and working as a tour guide in Germany, rootless Englishman Ted Mundy catches a glimpse of an old friend hiding in the shadows. A friend he thought was lost to him. A friend who took him from radical 1960s Berlin to life as a double agent. Now, decades later, the Cold War is over and the war on terror has begun. Sasha has another mission for them both, but this time it is impossible to tell the difference between allies - and enemies. Set in a world of lies and shifting allegiances, Absolute Friends is a savage fable of our times.''Thoroughly gripping'' Sunday TimesTrade ReviewThis is le Carré with a twist, the Old Master developing new techniques for a new age * The Times *

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Mission Song

    Penguin Books Ltd The Mission Song

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewLe Carre's eye is undimmed, his passion for his craft as strong as it ever was. He delivers a tale that few could equal and none will surpass * Observer *

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • A Most Wanted Man

    Penguin Books Ltd A Most Wanted Man

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''One of the most sophisticated fictional responses to the war on terror yet published'' GuardianAn illegal Muslim immigrant arrives in Hamburg with a traumatic past and the key to a fortune held in a private bank. He says his name is Issa. To the idealistic young human rights lawyer Annabel, determined to save him from deportation, he is a worthy cause. To the intelligence services of Britain, Germany and America, however, he is a potential jihadist - and a pawn between them as they seek to make a kill in the war on terror. A Most Wanted Man is a gripping and disquieting story of paranoia, disillusionment and betrayal in the moral no-man''s land of the post-9/11 world. ''A first-class novel about the most pressing concerns of our time'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewOne of the most sophisticated fictional responses to the war on terror yet published * Guardian *

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • The Naive and Sentimental Lover

    Penguin Books Ltd The Naive and Sentimental Lover

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • A Perfect Spy

    Penguin Books Ltd A Perfect Spy

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis''The best English novel since the war'' Philip RothMagnus Pym - ranking diplomat, consummate Englishman, loving husband, secret agent - has vanished. Has he defected? Gone to ground? As the hunt for Pym intensifies, the secrets of his life are revealed: the people he has loved and betrayed, the unreliable con-man father who made him, the two mentors who moulded and shaped him, and now wish to claim this perfect spy as their own. Described by le Carré as his most autobiographical novel, A Perfect Spy is a devastating portrayal of a man who has played different roles for so long, he no longer knows who he is. ''Le Carré understood that espionage is an extreme version of the human comedy, even the human tragedy. A Perfect Spy will very likely remain his greatest book'' New YorkerTrade ReviewOne of the finest English novels of the twentieth century -- Philip Pullman

    10 in stock

    £9.49

  • Single  Single

    Penguin Books Ltd Single Single

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis''An adventure that takes us to the ends of the earth via the rich but often barren landscape of the human heart'' The TimesWhy was an English lawyer shot dead in Turkey by his firm''s top client? How can a down-at-heel magician in Devon explain the vast fortune that has mysteriously appeared in his daughter''s trust fund? With customs officer Nat Brock on the trail, the answers point to the House of Single - once a respectable finance company, now entangled with a Russian crime syndicate.West is pitted against East, and the British establishment against a labyrinthine criminal superpower, in le Carré''s searing novel of lives built upon lies.''A masterly work, faultless fiction of the highest order'' Glasgow HeraldTrade Review[Le Carré] has done for popular fiction what the young Marlon Brando did for Hollywood ... Single and Single is an adventure that takes us to the ends of the earth via the rich but often barren landscape of the human heart * The Times *

    2 in stock

    £9.49

  • Smileys People

    Penguin Books Ltd Smileys People

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe concluding part of John le Carré''s celebrated Karla Trilogy, Smiley''s People sees the last confrontation between the indefatigable spymaster George Smiley and his great enemy, as their rivalry comes to a shattering end.A Soviet defector has been assassinated on English soil, and George Smiley is called back to the Circus to clear up - and cover up - the mess. But what he discovers sends him delving into the past, on a trail through Hamburg and Paris to Cold War Berlin - and a final showdown with his elusive nemesis, Karla. ''An enormously skilled and satisfying work'' Newsweek''We are all Smiley''s people, a kind of secular god of intelligence'' New YorkerTHE SEVENTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

    15 in stock

    £9.49

  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

    Penguin Books Ltd Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

    15 in stock

    Book Synopsis''A stunning story'' Wall Street JournalA mole, implanted by Moscow Centre, has infiltrated the highest ranks of the British Intelligence Service, almost destroying it in the process. And so former spymaster George Smiley has been brought out of retirement in order to hunt down the traitor at the very heart of the Circus - even though it may be one of those closest to him.The first part of le Carré''s acclaimed Karla Trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy sees the beginning of the stealthy Cold War cat-and-mouse game between the taciturn, dogged Smiley and his wily Soviet counterpart.''A great thriller, the best le Carré has written'' SpectatorTHE FIFTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

    15 in stock

    £9.99

  • Call for the Dead

    Penguin Books Ltd Call for the Dead

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIntelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard. * Sunday Telegraph *Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense. * Observer *The greatest spy novelist of all time ... astounding works of the imagination. -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph *Brilliant, popular, intelligent, thrilling, suspenseful, angry, original, masterful writing. Can't be topped. -- Armando IannucciAn extraordinary writer who brought literary lustre and lived insight to the spy yarn. -- Ian RankinOne of those writers who will be read a century from now. -- Robert HarrisHis Smiley novels are key to understanding the mid-20th century. -- Margaret AtwoodWhat Joseph Conrad started, John le Carré enshrined and made modern. That is the real achievement of his great novels and why they will endure ... we should see him as our contemporary Dickens. -- William Boyd * New Statesman *

    Out of stock

    £9.49

  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

    Penguin Books Ltd Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

    Book Synopsis

    £9.49

  • The Honourable Schoolboy

    Penguin Books Ltd The Honourable Schoolboy

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisTHE SIXTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVELGeorge Smiley, now acting head of the Circus, must rebuild its shattered reputation after one of the biggest betrayals in its history. Using the talents of journalist and occasional spy Jerry Westerby, Smiley launches a risky operation uncovering a Russian money-laundering scheme in the Far East. His aim: revenge on Karla, head of Moscow Centre and the architect of all his troubles. In the second part of John le Carré''s Karla Trilogy, the battle of wits between Smiley and his Soviet adversary takes on an even more dangerous dimension. ''Energy, compassion, rich and overwhelming sweep of character and action'' The Times''A remarkable sequel ... the achievement is in the characters, major and minor ... all burned on the brain of the reader'' The New York Times

    2 in stock

    £8.99

  • A Murder of Quality

    Penguin Books Ltd A Murder of Quality

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisJohn le Carré''s second novel is an ingenious puzzle featuring his best-loved character George Smiley. Now available in a collector''s hardback edition.Stella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School: firstly by being the wrong sort, with her doilies and china ducks, and secondly by being murdered. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate. Smiley knows that Stella feared her husband would murder her, but as he probes further beneath Carne''s respectable veneer, he uncovers far more than a simple crime of passion. In his second George Smiley novel, le Carré moves outside the world of espionage to reveal the secrets at the heart of another particularly English institution. The result is a pitch-perfect murder mystery, with Smiley as master detective.THE SECOND GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL''Beautifully intelligent, satiric and witty'' Daily TelegraphTrade ReviewA book of rare and great power * Financial Times *A devastating and tragic record of human, not glamour, spies * New York Herald Tribune *

    10 in stock

    £13.49

  • A Small Town in Germany

    Penguin Books Ltd A Small Town in Germany

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisWest Germany in the 1960s is a simmering cauldron of radical protests. Amid the turmoil Leo Harting, a Second Secretary in the British Embassy, has gone missing - along with more than forty Confidential embassy files. Alan Turner of the Foreign Office must travel to Bonn to recover them. As he gets closer to the truth of Harting''s disappearance, he will discover that the face of Cold War Europe - and the attentions of the British Ministry itself - are far uglier that he could possibly have imagined.Le Carré''s searing Cold War novel creates a world where the lines between right and wrong, good and evil, are horribly blurred.

    3 in stock

    £13.49

  • Our Game

    Penguin Books Ltd Our Game

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisLe Carré''s post-Cold War masterpiece, filled with suspense, betrayal, desire and dramaThe Cold War is over and retired secret servant Tim Cranmer has been put out to pasture, spending his days making wine on his Somerset estate. But then he discovers that his former double agent Larry - dreamer, dissolute, philanderer and disloyal friend - has vanished, along with Tim''s mistress. As their trail takes him to the lawless wilds of Russia and the North Caucasus, he is forced to question everything he stood for.Set in a fragmented, uncertain post-Soviet world, le Carré''s brutal story of falsehoods and betrayal shows men playing dangerous games beyond their control.Trade ReviewA wonderful book, absolutely in tune with the le Carré canon. I cannot think of a more compelling read. * The Financial Times *

    4 in stock

    £13.49

  • The Mission Song

    Penguin Books Ltd The Mission Song

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Mesmerising'' Sunday TimesAs an interpreter of African languages, Bruno Salvador is much in demand. He makes it a principle to remain neutral - no matter what he hears. But when he is summoned on a secret job for British Intelligence, he is told he will have to get his hands dirty. His mission is to help bring democracy to the Congo - democracy that will be delivered at the end of a gun barrel.The Mission Song is an excoriating depiction of a corrupt world where loyalty can be bought and war is simply an opportunity to settle old scores.''Simply astonishing ... a formidably sophisticated work of fiction'' Charles Cumming

    3 in stock

    £13.49

  • A Most Wanted Man

    Penguin Books Ltd A Most Wanted Man

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis''One of the most sophisticated fictional responses to the war on terror yet published'' GuardianAn illegal Muslim immigrant arrives in Hamburg with a traumatic past and the key to a fortune held in a private bank. He says his name is Issa. To the idealistic young human rights lawyer Annabel, determined to save him from deportation, he is a worthy cause. To the intelligence services of Britain, Germany and America, however, he is a potential jihadist - and a pawn between them as they seek to make a kill in the war on terror. A Most Wanted Man is a gripping and disquieting story of paranoia, disillusionment and betrayal in the moral no-man''s land of the post-9/11 world. ''A first-class novel about the most pressing concerns of our time'' Daily Telegraph

    2 in stock

    £13.49

  • The Naive and Sentimental Lover

    Penguin Books Ltd The Naive and Sentimental Lover

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Splendid ... le Carré shows how endowed he is with the gift of storytelling'' The TimesAldo Cassidy is a cautious man. He has a pleasant family, drives a safe, expensive car and wears luxurious clothes. But his soothing existence is upended when he meets Shamus and Helen - a dazzling, bohemian couple who are everything he is not. As he is drawn into their reckless and unpredictable orbit, all that Cassidy thought he understood about his orderly life begins to unravel.Told with le Carré''s lacerating wit and penetrating observation, The Naive and Sentimental Lover is an acerbic satire of middle-class hypocrisies.''Le Carré is the equal of any novelist now writing'' Guardian

    3 in stock

    £13.49

  • Single  Single

    Penguin Books Ltd Single Single

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis''An adventure that takes us to the ends of the earth via the rich but often barren landscape of the human heart'' The TimesWhy was an English lawyer shot dead in Turkey by his firm''s top client? How can a down-at-heel magician in Devon explain the vast fortune that has mysteriously appeared in his daughter''s trust fund? With customs officer Nat Brock on the trail, the answers point to the House of Single - once a respectable finance company, now entangled with a Russian crime syndicate.West is pitted against East, and the British establishment against a labyrinthine criminal superpower, in le Carré''s searing novel of lives built upon lies.''A masterly work, faultless fiction of the highest order'' Glasgow Herald

    2 in stock

    £14.39

  • Our Kind of Traitor

    Penguin Books Ltd Our Kind of Traitor

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn John le Carré''s electrifying novel Our Kind of Traitor, innocents abroad are drawn into the darkest recesses of the financial world.Britain is in the depths of recession. A left-leaning young Oxford academic and his barrister girlfriend take an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula and a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb, and wants a game of tennis.What else he wants propels the young lovers on a tortuous journey through Paris to a safe house in the Swiss Alps, to the murkiest cloisters of the City of London and its unholy alliance with Britain''s Intelligence Establishment.''If you want to know about the state of Britain today, forget the Booker shortlist. Just read John le Carré''s latest thriller'' Evening Standard''Few recent plays have had dialogue as good, and few recent literary n

    2 in stock

    £13.49

  • A Delicate Truth

    Penguin Books Ltd A Delicate Truth

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis''With A Delicate Truth, le Carré has in a sense come home. And it''s a splendid homecoming . . . the novel is the most satisfying, subtle and compelling of his recent oeuvre'' The TimesA counter-terror operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted in Britain''s most precious colony, Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister''s Private Secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it.Suspecting a disastrous conspiracy, Toby attempts to forestall it, but is promptly posted overseas. Three years on, summoned by Sir Christopher Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely watched by Probyn''s daughter Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and his duty to the Service.If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can he keep silent?__________________''No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times, from the Second World War to the ''War on Terror'''' Guardian''The master of the modern spy novel returns . . . John le Carré was never a spy-turned-writer, he was a writer who found his canvas in espionage'' Daily Mail ''A brilliant climax, with sinister deaths, casual torture, wrecked lives and shameful compromises'' Observer

    1 in stock

    £13.49

  • The Pigeon Tunnel

    Penguin Books Ltd The Pigeon Tunnel

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING MEMOIR OF SPY-WRITING LEGEND JOHN LE CARRÉ''As recognizable a writer as Dickens or Austen'' Financial TimesFrom his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War to a career as a writer, John le Carré has lived a unique life.In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive - reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he''s interviewing a German terrorist in her desert prison or watching Alec Guinness preparing for his role as George Smiley, this book invites us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer''s journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.''No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times'' Guardian''When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré . . . These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind'' Aung San Suu Kyi

    Out of stock

    £14.99

  • A Legacy of Spies

    Penguin Books Ltd A Legacy of Spies

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis''A brilliant novel of deception, love and trust to join his supreme cannon'' Evening Standard''Vintage le Carré. Immensely clever, breathtaking. Really, not since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold has le Carré exercised his gift as a storyteller so powerfully and to such thrilling effect'' John Banville, GuardianPeter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, has retired to his family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London are to be scrutinised by a generation with no memory of the Cold War. Somebody must be made to pay for innocent blood once spilt in the name of the greater good.Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own story, John le Carré has given us a novel of superb and enduring quality.''Utterly engrossing and perfectly pitched. There is only one le Carré. Eloquent, subtle, sublimely paced'' Daily Mail''Splendid, fast-paced, riveting'' Andrew Marr, Sunday Times''Remarkable. Vintage John le Carré. It gives the reader, at long last, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have been missing for 54 years. Like wine, le Carré''s writing has got richer with age. Don''t wait for the paperback'' The Times''Perhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the 20th century in Britain. He''s in the first rank'' Ian McEwan''The literary event of the Autumn'' Evening Standard''One of those writers who will be read a century from now'' Robert Harris

    1 in stock

    £13.49

  • Penguin Readers Level 6 The Spy Who Came in from

    Penguin Random House Children's UK Penguin Readers Level 6 The Spy Who Came in from

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisPenguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers'' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys. Alec Leamas, a British spy, is worn out and ready to stop working. But his boss wants him to do one final job: to spread false information about an important man in East Germany. Can Alec end his career and finally come in from the cold?

    5 in stock

    £7.59

  • Agent Running in the Field

    Penguin Books Ltd Agent Running in the Field

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisPenguin presents the audiobook edition of Agent Running in the Field written and read by John le Carré.Nat, a 47 year-old veteran of Britain''s Secret Intelligence Service, believes his years as an agent runner are over. He is back in London with his wife, the long-suffering Prue. But with the growing threat from Moscow Centre, the office has one more job for him. Nat is to take over The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. The only bright light on the team is young Florence, who has her eye on Russia Department and a Ukrainian oligarch with a finger in the Russia pie. Nat is not only a spy, he is a passionate badminton player. His regular Monday evening opponent is half his age: the introspective and solitary Ed. Ed hates Brexit, hates Trump and hates his job at some soulless media agency. And it is Ed, of all unlikely people, who will take Prue, Florence and Nat himself down the path of political anger thaTrade ReviewA fine piece of storytelling. It is a neat, compact, slow-burning tale with just the right amount of twisting and turning and misdirection. Divided loyalties, uncertain motives, Russian agents, bureaucratic infighting, jaded spies, tatty offices - all of the things you want and expect from a high-quality le Carré thriller are here * The Times *A very classy entertainment about political ideals and deception . . . laced with fury at the senseless vandalism of Brexit and of Trump. Le Carré is the master of the spy genre. * Guardian *Le Carré delivers a tale for our times, replete with the classic seasoning of betrayal, secret state shenanigans and sad-eyed human frailty, all baked into an oven-hot contemporary thriller . . . Agent Running in the Field is right on the money, in psychology as much as politics, a demonstration of the British spy thriller at its unputdownable best * Robert McCrum, Observer *As ingeniously structured as any of le Carré's fiction, skilfully misdirecting the reader for much of the time * Evening Standard *A masterpiece * Mick Herron, TLS *Master of the game * Sunday Times *Le Carré's troubled new protagonist is developed with the author's customary skill . . . an impeccable piece of writing * i *No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times * Guardian *The master is back on form in this tale of Russian subterfuge and a middle-aged spy 's suspicious badminton partner * The Times *A rich, beautifully written book studded with surprises. Narrative is a black art, and Le Carré is its grandmaster * Andrew Taylor, Spectator *The master espionage novelist takes on Brexit and Trump in this tense and chilling portrait of today * Evening Standard *Wonderful . . . sophisticated entertainment from an author who, at 88, remains sharper than most of us * Church Times *John le Carré is as recognisable a writer as Dickens or Austen * Financial Times *A bang-up-to-date investigation of some of the big issues of our time * Sunday Express *Le Carré demonstrates once again his sublime elegance as a writer, and his delicate touch when portraying human failings in the shadowy world of espionage . . . subtle, wry and seamless, it's an utter joy, from first page to last * Daily Mail *A literary master for a generation * Observer *Blisteringly contemporary . . . Each new book from le Carré is refreshingly different and uniquely compelling * Economist *One of those writers who will be read a century from now * Robert Harris *Astute state-of-the-nation commentary * The Guardian Books of the Year *Classic, unmistakeable le Carré . . . it has the added bonus of some wonderfully vitriolic rants * Shots magazine: Book of the Month *The master of the espionage novel returns with a perfectly nuanced story of a spy on the scrapheap at the age of 47 and uncertain who to trust in the world of Brexit and divided loyalties * Daily Mail, Books of the Year *

    1 in stock

    £18.00

  • Penguin Readers Level 5 The Night Manager ELT

    Penguin Random House Children's UK Penguin Readers Level 5 The Night Manager ELT

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisPenguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers'' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.Jonathan Pine is the Night Manager of a hotel in Egypt. When he is shown some secret information, he passes it to a man in the British government. But things go wrong and the woman he loves dies. Pine is very angry and agrees to work with others to catch Richard Roper - the worst man in the world.

    15 in stock

    £7.59

  • The Smiley Collection Boxset

    Penguin Books Ltd The Smiley Collection Boxset

    5 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    5 in stock

    £56.25

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