About the Author

JOHN LE CARRÉ 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, in MI5 and MI6. 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 Carré 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. Silverview is his twenty-sixth novel. John le Carré died on December 12, 2020.

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 Carré 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 practicing.”—Financial Times

“Stunning.”—Wall Street Journal

"Le Carré 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 Carré has written" -- Spectator (London)

Packaged to tie in with the recent film version of this masterful spy thriller, the audio edition benefits from strong narration from Michael Jayston, an actor who appeared in the 1979 BBC television adaptation of le Carre's complex novel. The twisting plot, boiled down, focuses on retired British spymaster George Smiley, who's called back to duty to find a traitor among the "gang of four" now heading England's secret service. In the miniseries, Jayston portrayed Smiley's right-hand man, Peter Guillam. In this audio edition, he easily slips back into the loyal, dedicated Guillam, while also doing justice to the book's cast of characters. His spot-on portrayal of Smiley admirably includes both of the protagonist's sides: his quietly brilliant professionalism and his personal self-doubt and fecklessness. Jayston's characterizations are invariably effective, from gruff, lonely, and broken ex-spy Jim Prideaux to the high-flying, arrogant members of the "gang of four." Two moments-Smiley's subtle questioning of a former teammate, once famous for her now-fading memory, and the exciting, highly suspenseful exposure of the Russian spy-are particular standouts. Jayston matches both perfectly, as well as all those in between. A Penguin paperback. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.