Smiley's People

Smiley's People

An exiled Estonian general calls the Circus insisting he has desperately important information on ‘the Sandman’, a codename for Karla. He arranges a meeting –‘Moscow Rules’ – and in keeping the appointment, he is shot. George Smiley is brought back from retirement to tidy away any loose ends and avoid a scandal. But Smiley believes in the old General’s claims and soon he is investigating in earnest, despite all the obstructions that the Circus, the Americans and, of course, Karla can put in his way. It is, as Smiley knows, ‘a chance to return to the rained-off contests of his life and play them after all’. And yet, in this world of half-truths and questionable motives, Smiley’s connection with Karla seems to grow closer as he approaches his goal.

At the same time as the fantasy of James Bond was popular in Hollywood, le Carré’s ambivalent, painfully realistic novels became a literary success. The books expose the divisions between Britain and its ally, America and the obvious decline of British power; more, they point to an increasing moral equivalence between the West and Russia, and the corruption of both their ideals. Le Carré’s vision is seldom comforting, often bleak, but it is powerful and expressed in terse, beautifully balanced prose that is in itself sufficient to explain why this trilogy is so acclaimed. Never glamorous, Smiley is nonetheless the archetype of what a spymaster should be, and in these tense, brilliant books, le Carré has written the defining masterpieces of the spy genre.

Also available in the series:

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Honourable Schoolboy