In these three masterly novels, John le Carre brings to thrilling life the shadowy battlegrounds of the Cold War - a war of ambiguous victories and hidden defeats orchestrated from the corridors of the Circus and Moscow Centre, and staffed by an army of moles and lamplighters, scalphunters and pavement artists. Stalking each other through this twilight landscape are the incomparable George Smiley and his ruthless opposite number, codenamed Karla, the Soviet case officer who has been slowly masterminding the Circus's ruin. Their extraordinary duel not only raised the spy novel to new heights of realism and complexity, it also constitutes one of the major triumphs of contemporary fiction, confirming John le Carre as a profound chronicler of the post-war world and a novelist of unfailing humanity.

About the Author

John le Carre was born in 1931. He attended the universities of Bern and Oxford and later taught at Eton. He spent five years in the British Foreign Service.

Reviews

'John le Carre is the great master of the spy story ... The constant flow of emotion lifts him not only above all modern suspense novelists, but above most novelists now practising.' -- Financial Times 'A great thriller, the best le Carre has written.' -- Spectator on TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY 'John le Carre is the great master of the spy story ... the constant flow of emotion lifts him above most novelists now practising.' -- Financial Times on TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY 'His command of detail is staggering, his straightforward, unaffected prose is superb. In short, wonderful value.' -- The Sunday Times on THE HONOURABLE SCHOOLBOY 'Energy, compassion, rich and overwhelming sweep of character and action ... one of the finest English novels of the seventies' -- The Times on THE HONOURABLE SCHOOLBOY 'It is an achievement of subtlety and power of which few novelists would be capable. Standing by itself it is the best single thing le Carre has done' -- Financial Times on SMILEY'S PEOPLE 'An enormously skilled and satisfying work.' -- Newsweek on SMILEY'S PEOPLE 'Inspired by the critical success of Tomas Alfredson's masterful Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy adaptation, this bumper volume repackages three of John Le Carre's greatest George Smiley stories. As well as the aforementioned TTSS, there's Smiley's return to an ailing Circus in The Honourable Schoolboy and his climactic Berlin showdown with the ominous Karla in Smiley's People. Thrilling from start to finish.' -- Shortlist