Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(Hardback)

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A beautifully designed new Clothbound Classic of le Carre's masterpiece, published to celebrate the novel's 50th anniversary A 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 Carre'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.

Reviews

"His masterpiece...the greatest spy novel ever written..." --NPR

The premier spy novelist of his time. Perhaps of all time.Time

A rattling good novel.San Francisco Chronicle

John le Carr is the great master of the spy storythe constant flow of emotion lifts him not only above all modern suspense novelists, but above most novelists now practicing.Financial Times

Stunning.Wall Street Journal

"Le Carr has never presented so much detail about the intelligence Establishment...and keeps one guessing right to the end " -- The New York Times

"A great thriller, the best le Carr has written" -- Spectator (London)

Author Bio

John le Carre was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the University of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5 & 6). He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carre widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020. His posthumous novel, Silverview, was published in 2021.