Books by John le Carre

Book SynopsisA gripping new novel set in the universe of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by acclaimed novelist Nick HarkawaySet in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nick Harkaway's Karla's Choice is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the world of spy fiction's greatest writer, John le Carré. 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

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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 *

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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') *

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Book SynopsisTo catch a criminal, he must become oneJonathan Pine, night manager of a luxury Swiss hotel, has a secret. He knows that the guest he awaits, billionaire trader Richard Roper, is the worst man in the world.' And he knows why. Pine will do whatever it takes to help the Intelligence services bring Roper down even if it means going deep undercover into a ruthless, lawless world, up against forces more dangerous than he can imagine.

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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 *

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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

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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

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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

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Book SynopsisONE OF BARACK OBAMA''S 2022 SUMMER PICKS''Le Carré at his finest'' Mick Herron, GuardianJulian Lawndsley has renounced his high-flying job in the City for a simpler life running a bookshop in a small English seaside town. But after only a couple of months into his new career, Edward, a Polish émigré, shows up at his door with a very keen interest in Julian''s new enterprise and a lot of knowledge about his family history. And when a letter turns up at the door of a spy chief in London warning him of a dangerous leak, the investigations lead him to this quiet town by the sea . . .Silverview is the mesmerising story of an encounter between innocence and experience and between public duty and private morals. In this last complete masterwork from the greatest chronicler of our age, John le Carré asks what you owe to your country when you no longer recognise it.''The finest, wisest storyteller'' Richard Osman''A towering writer'' Margaret Atwood''A literary giant'' Stephen KingTrade ReviewValedictory, with a final turn of events that ends surprisingly but pleasingly in a cock-up, this is a satisfying coda to the career of the finest thriller writer of the 20th century * Guardian, Books of the Year *A compelling character study of a supposedly retired spy . . . Such was his rare command of language and unique understanding of how the world really works that I finished the book with a sense that the only real grown-up in the room had left -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year *As graceful an exit as we could hope for, the old master remaining at the top of his game to the last -- Mick Herron * Daily Express, Books of the Year *Nothing will ever match the Cold War spy novels written in his prime, but his later work illuminates themes of loyalty, betrayal and conflicting values in a modern context -- Vince Cable * New Statesman, Books of the Year *A superb example of le Carré's enduring and exquisite genius * Daily Mail, Books of the Year *Gripping and involving, an elegant farewell by a much missed writer -- Siân Phillips * Daily Express, Books of the Year *Silverview has many of le Carré's characteristic virtues . . . engaging characters and three or four splendid set scenes in which veteran spooks stir the embers of old fires * Scotsman, Best Books of the Year *Silverview is a cat-and-mouse chase from an East Anglian seaside town to the Eastern Bloc. Published ten months after he passed away, it marks a fitting final work by the master of spy fiction * Irish Times, Books of the Year *A taut, thrilling spy novel. Read it as a tribute to a master * Stella, Books of the Year *Silverview has all the old magic . . . it offers a rewarding post-script to the long-distance spell-binders The Little Drummer Girl and Absolute Friends -- David Bromwich * Times Literary Supplement, Books of The Year *His publisher is promoting it as a great literary event - the final book by one of postwar Britain's finest writers. That seems fair enough to me . . . [Silverview has] enough reminders of the old magic to please his most ardent aficionados -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Le Carré at his finest, revealing character and backstory through dialogue with an economy and grace beyond most writers . . . le Carré's greatness has its roots in his mastery of spy fiction; a genre he augmented with novels notable for their craftsmanship and humanity, and writing for its stealth and sophistication. With the publication of Silverview, it's clear these virtues remained intact to the end -- Mick Herron * Guardian *Thematically, this is classic le Carré: an exploration of how people do the wrong thing for the right motive. The prose is as unshowily superb as ever * Sunday Telegraph *A fitting coda to the work of our greatest spy novelist -- John Williams * Mail on Sunday *It is written with elegance and often pungency, the pitch-perfect dialogue ranging from the waggishly epigrammatic to the bluntly outraged * New York Times *Le Carré's ability to inhabit the deepest recesses of his characters' lives is once again on sparkling display . . . It leaves no doubt that le Carré believed good literature could help make the world a better place. His own contribution to that edifice was by no means negligible * FT *Textbook le Carré and a pleasing coda to a brilliant career: a short, sharp study of the human cost of espionage * Daily Telegraph *The first page hooks you in . . . John le Carré has lost none of his power to draw the reader straight into his world * The Times *There is a retro charm about proceedings . . . as well as a welcome array of familiar le Carré tropes, from sharply drawn characters to stimulating interviews and debriefings, plus a compelling denouement involving a wanted man on the run . . . a worthy coda, a commanding farewell from a much-missed master * Economist *Arguably the greatest English novelist of his generation * Guardian *Crisp prose, a precision-tooled plot, the heady sense of an inside track on a shadowy world . . . all his usual pleasures are here * Observer *A lyrical, poignant portrait of betrayal in a family that lives in a world submerged in subterfuge, and resonates with le Carré's exquisite genius. It is to be savoured gently rather than devoured * Daily Mail *A diverting if slender coda to one of the boldest writing careers of the 20th century . . . In this posthumous farewell, le Carré is still showing us how literary fiction and the spy narrative can coexist in the same book * i *A poignant story of love and loyalty * Independent *A fitting conclusion to the long career of a writer who redefined an entire genre with the deceptive easy of pure genius . . . Silverview is filled with joy in the resilience of the human spirit, and with love . . . It's also deeply thrilling, in the best way * Irish Times *Packed with cherishable details and intriguingly ambivalent about the role of the Secret Intelligence Service, John le Carré's last novel brings his career to a close in fine style * Scotsman *A very fine finale . . . for writing of subtlety, cadence and strength, with a special aptitude for the revealing particular, [le Carré] is virtually unequalled . . . Time and again, le Carré was able to weave an entrancing, haunting world of his own, a feat repeated in Silverview. There are few writers to match him, and fewer who are still alive * Spectator *In his trademark lucid prose, le Carré sets the scene for an atmospheric tale of betrayal, deceit and secret service malpractice . . . John le Carré, one of the great analysts of the contemporary scene, has left us a minor masterpiece of secrets and lies in spy land * Evening Standard *A winner with fans of the master spy-writer * Oldie *A piercing portrait of moral ambivalence * i *It is classic le Carré . . . If this is the quality le Carré was producing in the last years of his life, we can be certain there are further posthumous delights coming our way * Herald *I gobbled up Silverview . . . Here le Carré is on more familiar territory - what was once known as Mitteleuropa, with its shape-shifting double agents, scarred idealists on the prowl for lost causes * Spectator *It has often been said that le Carré is a novelist, not a mere thriller writer. Yet the thing is that, for all his protests that his creations were always more fictional than credited, what he excels at is giving us a plausible peek into the spy's world * The Times *[Le Carré's] prose is as quietly impressive as ever and it's a thoroughly enjoyable read. It makes for bittersweet reading - the final work of a master, on fine form * Daily Express *Promises to be filled with intrigue, surprises and timely meditations on the relationship between individuals and nations * i *One of the great moral writers of recent times * Metro *First-rate prose and a fascinating plot . . . a fitting coda to a remarkable career * Publishers Weekly *

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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

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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

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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 *

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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

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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?

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Book SynopsisA beautiful 60th anniversary special edition of the first George Smiley novel, now with a new introduction by John le CarréAfter 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 debut novel, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit. 'The greatest spy novelist of all time' Jake Kerridge, Daily TelegraphTrade 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 *

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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 *

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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 *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage seriesA Russian mole has infiltrated the British establishment - and the spymaster Smiley must dig them out...George Smiley, formerly of the Secret Intelligence Service, is contemplating his new life in retirement when he is called back on an unexpected mission. His task is to hunt down an agent implanted by Moscow Central at the very heart of the Circus - one who has been buried deep there for years. The dogged, troubled Smiley can discount nobody from being the traitor, even if it is one of those closest to him.

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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, former disciple of George Smiley in the British Secret Service, has long retired to Brittany when a letter arrives, summoning him to London. The reason? Cold War ghosts have come back to haunt him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of the Service are to be dissected by a generation with no memory of the Berlin Wall. Somebody must pay for innocent blood spilt in the name of the greater good . . .''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. 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'' 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''One of those writers who will be read a century from now'' Robert HarrisSunday Times bestseller, September 2017Trade ReviewNot 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 * Guardian *Gripping, fast-paced . . . A splendid novel -- Andrew Marr * Sunday Times *A brilliant novel of deception, love and trust to join his supreme espionage canon -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * Evening Standard, Books of the Year *Perhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the 20th century in Britain. He will have charted our decline and recorded the nature of our bureaucracies like no one else has. He's in the first rank -- Ian McEwanIt gives the reader, at long last, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have been missing for 54 years . . . A Legacy of Spies does something remarkable . . . Like wine, le Carré's writing has got richer with age * The Times *le Carré's masterful new novel -- Jonathan Freedland * The Guardian *The English canon has rarely seen an acclaimed novelist and popular entertainer sustain such a hot streak in old age . . . A Legacy of Spies achieves many things. Outstandingly, it is a defiant assertion of creative vigour * The Observer *A Legacy of Spies deploys a complex and ingeniously layered structure to make the past alive in the present once more . . . le Carré has not lost his touch * Evening Standard *His writing is as crisp as ever . . . another tale of intrigue which will slip effortlessly into its place in the Smiley canon * Daily Express *What are we to make of Smiley? What is his game? Do we like him? Admire him? Every le Carré reader has wrestled with these questions-and A Legacy of Spies brings them to the fore more directly than any previous book * Vanity Fair *Ingenious * Washington Post *Utterly engrossing and perfectly pitched, it is a triumph * Daily Mail *We are back in the more interesting territory of moral uncertainty and failure. What, Smiley asks, was he fighting for? * TLS *The literary event of the Autumn * Evening Standard *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 GladwellHe can communicate emotion, from sweating fear to despairing love, with terse and compassionate conviction. Above all, he can tell a tale. Formidable equipment for a rare and disturbing writer * Sunday Times *The best spy story I have ever read -- Graham Greene on The Spy Who Came In From The ColdA literary master for a generation * Observer *George Smiley is our favourite fictional spy * Sunday Express *le Carré has made and peopled a myth. Myths do not age * Financial Times *Deeply moving in its portrait of a man adrift in a climate he no longer understands * Metro *[As] labyrinthine as you'd expect ... le Carré has always been a master * The Tablet *Razor-sharp insight from the battle-weary Guillam and fascinating glimpses into the murky spycraft at the height of the Cold War only add to the joy of this sublimely accomplished thriller * The People *This is a truly wonderful, morally complex, politically astute novel written with elegance and panache . . . the visceral thrill of its twists and its complexities, its edge-of-the-seat qualities * Scotland on Sunday *[Le Carré's] writing has lost none of its pith or potency . . . his powers of invention have kept up with the pace of an ever-changing and complex world' * The Scotsman *Thrilling and fascinating - a satisfying close to the saga * The Independent *This sublime thriller * Sunday Mirror *This really is vintage le Carré * Mail on Sunday *It's brilliantly done and very enjoyable * Prospect *[A] late-career triumph * 1843 Magazine *A splendid novel * Sunday Times *An immensely clever piece of novelistic engineering * Guardian *

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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

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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 *

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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.

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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 *

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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

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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 *

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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

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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

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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 *

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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

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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'' ObserverTrade ReviewPerhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the 20th century in Britain . . . He should have won the Booker Prize a long time ago. It's time he won it and it's time he accepted it. He's in the first rank. -- Ian McEwan * Telegraph *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 *One of those writers who will be read a century from now -- Robert HarrisWith A Delicate Truth, le Carré has in a sense come home. And it's a splendid homecoming . . . Satisfying, subtle and compelling * The Times *The perfectly paced, exquisitely cynical style that is le Carré's hallmark * Sunday Times *The master of the modern spy novel returns . . . this is writing of such quality that - as Robert Harris put it - it will be read in one hundred years * Daily Mail *A brilliant climax, with sinister deaths, casual torture, wrecked lives and shameful compromises * Observer *A writer of towering gifts . . . le Carré is one of the great analysts of the contemporary scene, who has a talent to provoke as well as unsettle * Independent *John le Carré takes us back to his favourite scenarios: Whitehall, the secret services, the gentleman's clubs, dodgy bankers, corrupt public schoolboys and gruesome American neo-cons . . . revelling once more in that imaginary world of secrets and lies that is le Carré's gift to us * Evening Standard *Thrilling, suspenseful . . . Fans will not be disappointed * Sunday Express *Utterly convincing characters, a tight plot . . . Wonderful * Sunday Mirror *Thrilling * Express *Choreographed with unsettling precision * Metro *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 KyiPlunges the reader into a modern-day thriller...Dad won't be able to put it down * Metro *[It] has all the essential ingredients of his masterpieces: the dilemmas of duty, patriotism and decency -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * Metro 'Books of the Year' *John Le Carré at his masterful best . . . nobody does it better -- Ben Macintyre * The Times 'Books of the Year' *Widely hailed as a return to the good old Smiley days . . . le Carré writes with laconic elegance -- Kate Saunders * The Times 'Books of the Year' *

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Book Synopsis''The British spy thriller at its unputdownable best'' ObserverSELECTED FOR BBC 2 BETWEEN THE COVERS________________________________Nat, a veteran of Britain''s Secret Intelligence Service, thinks his years as an agent runner are over. But MI6 have other plans. To tackle the growing threat from Moscow Centre, Nat is put in charge of The Haven, a defunct substation of London General with a rag-tag band of spies. His weekly badminton session with the young, introspective, Brexit-hating Ed, offers respite from the new job. But it is Ed, of all unlikely people, who will take Nat down the path of political anger that will ensnare them all. _______________________________''A rich, beautifully written book studded with surprises. Narrative is a black art, and Le Carré is its grandmaster'' Spectator ''Blisteringly contemporary'' Economist ''Subtle, wry and seamless, it''s an utter joy, from first page to last'' Daily Mail''A very classy entertainment about political ideals and deception . . . laced with fury at the senseless vandalism of Brexit and of Trump'' Guardian''A fine piece of storytelling'' TimesTrade 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 *

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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,

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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 *

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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

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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

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING MEMOIR OF SPY-WRITING LEGEND JOHN LE CARRÉ*NOW A MAJOR APPLE TV MOTION PICTURE*''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 KyiTrade ReviewFascinating, important, pithy. Anyone interested in le Carré and his significant contribution to the literature of the 20th and 21st centuries will want to read these engaging meanderings through his life and career.He has plenty to say about Kim Philby, the movie business, fellow spooks and Russian defectors, encounters with the great and good, and his intrepid travels to research his novels -- William Boyd * Guardian *Vintage le Carré ... [he] remains a magician of plot and counter-plot, a master storyteller * Observer *John le Carré is as recognizable a writer as Dickens or Austen * Financial Times *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 *No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times * Guardian *A smashing read -- Richard Davenport-Hines * Wall Street Journal *Offers thrills of recognition as le Carré's archetypes spring to life... The 84-year old novelist discards extended narrative and writes in elegiac fragments with linking harmonies, like the late works of that other German Romantic, Beethoven -- John Gapper * Financial Times *Exceptionally well-turned and enjoyable -- David Sexton * Evening Standard *Grippingly written, it is revealing in ways the author never intended it to be * Sunday Telegraph *Cagey, clever, revealing * Daily Telegraph *le Carré is a master of the art... fascinatingly readable * The Times *Frank and fascinating * Daily Express *The Pigeon Tunnel is a delight... a collection of highly polishes oddments from a life, assembled to entertain and inform...fabulously funny * Radio Times *A snapshot of a story that is, truly, as extraordinary as any of his fiction * Daily Mail *For me The Pigeon Tunnel just confirms the enigma... extremely humorous... at no point do I feel that I knew one tiny bit more than he wants me to know -- Susanne Bier, director of The Night ManagerHe has written an uproarious, darkly poignant and precious book -- James Naughtie * New Statesman *A beautiful book. The great glory of it is it comes close to unlocking the central mystery of le Carré -- Tony ParsonsAs enthralling as his fiction * Woman and Home *Le Carré is such a good writer . . . Though urbane and detached, there is rage simmering not far below the surface of both le Carré and his new book. But then, nothing, absolutely nothing, is what it seems * Daily Mail *A deeply personal and touching account of le Carré's life ... it has undeniable power * Prospect *Explosive * Daily Mail *le Carré's The Pigeon Tunnel is exquisite -- Hugh LaurieI savoured the gravelly, quietly insistent voice of a master storyteller examining his own life -- Michela Wrong * The Spectator *the entertaining recollections of a raconteur -- Neil McCormick * Telegraph *Elusive and frank and witty by turns, the spy master gives away just as much of himself as he wants to in The Pigeon Tunnel, tracing the story of his life through his walk-on parts in the history and mythology of the cold war, and the shape-shifting discipline of his imagination -- Tim Adams * Guardian Biographies of the Year *

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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 *

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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

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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.

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Book SynopsisThe complete collection of acclaimed BBC Radio dramas based on John le Carre's bestselling novels, starring Simon Russell Beale as George Smiley. With a star cast including Kenneth Cranham, Eleanor Bron, Brian Cox, Ian MacDiarmid, Anna Chancellor, Hugh Bonneville and Lindsay Duncan, these enthralling dramatisations perfectly capture the atmosphere of le Carre's taut, thrilling spy novels. Call for the Dead is the first Smiley novel, which sees him looking into an apparent suicide only to uncover a murderous conspiracy;A Murder of Quality finds Smiley investigating a murder in a private school; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold introduces Alec Leamas, a British intelligence officer whose East Berlin network is in tatters; The Looking Glass War features former spy Fred Leiser, lured back from retirement to investigate a claim that Soviet missiles are being installed close to the West German border; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the first book in the Karla trilogy, and sees Smiley searching for a mole who has infiltrated the Circus; The Honourable Schoolboy sees Smiley determined to destroy his nemesis, Karla, and his spy networks; Smiley's People finds George Smiley called out of retirement to exorcise some Cold War ghosts from his clandestine past; The Secret Pilgrim sees Smiley invited to dine with the eager new recruits at the Circus. He offers them his thoughts on espionage and, in doing so, prompts a former colleague to re-examine his own eventful secret life. 'A radio triumph...Simon Russell Beale's pitch-perfect master spy' - "Financial Times". Duration: 19 hours.Trade ReviewA radio triumph...Simon Russell Beale's pitch-perfect master spy * The Financial Times *

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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

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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

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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

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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 *

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