For the first time in over 30 years, John le Carré returns to the Cold War in this thrilling masterpiece.
Peter 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.
About the Author
John le Carre was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For more than fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.
Industry Reviews
“Part of the pleasure of this novel is that the characters seem so much cleverer than we are. It's haunting, fascinating . . . It also made me want to reread the entire Smiley sequence”
Spectator
“Le Carré surpasses himself. A masterclass in the genre . . . poignant and brilliant”
Observer
“'The old magic still holds . . . I might as well say it: to read this simmering novel is to come in from the cold”
New York Times
