A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré, 1945-2020

Name: A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré, 1945-2020
Author: John le Carré
ISBN: 9780241550090

by John le Carré, Tim Cornwell

752 pages2022Penguin Books, LimitedISBN 9780241550090

Young Adult

Open in BookOwl Download on App Store

About this book

John le Carre was one of the greatest novelists of his generation. He also had an extraordinary life. A Private Spy is the story of that life told through the voice of this masterful writer. We hear le Carre as a teenager and then as a young man trying to make his way in the world. There are beautiful and moving letters to le Carre's stepmother about his relationship with his fraudster father. There are letters about his first marriage and letters to his children. There are wonderfully vivid letters to great actors and great writers. There are brilliantly sharp and very funny portraits of politicians and public figures. And throughout the collection there is the clear, inimitable voice of this magnificent writer.

Publication Details

Publisher: Penguin Books, Limited
Published: 2022
Pages: 752
ISBN: 9780241550090
Language: en

About John le Carré

David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 1931 – 12 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré was a British Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophisticated, morally ambiguous writer", he is considered one of the greatest novelists of the postwar era. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for both the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Near the end of his life, due to his strong disapproval of Brexit, he took out Irish citizenship, which was possible due to his having an Irish grandparent. Le Carré's third novel, *The Spy Who Came in from the Cold* (1963), became an international best-seller, was adapted as an award-winning film, and remains one of his best-known works. This success allowed him to leave MI6 to become a full-time author.[4] His novels which have been adapted for film or television include *The Looking Glass War* (1965), *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy* (1974, 2011), *Smiley's People* (1979), *The Little Drummer Girl* (1983), *The Night Manager* (1993), *The Tailor of Panama* (1996), *The Constant Gardener* (2001), *A Most Wanted Man* (2008) and *Our Kind of Traitor* (2010). Philip Roth said that *A Perfect Spy* (1986) was "the best English novel since the war".