Editions

Call for the Dead

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780241330876

  • Length: 176  Pages

  • Dimensions: 181mm x 9mm x 111mm

  • Weight: 107g

  • RRP: £7.99

Call for the Dead

  • The Smiley Collection

THE FIRST GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL

After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds Circus head Maston is trying to blame him for the death, he begins his own investigation, meeting Fennan's widow to find out what led him to such desperation. On the very day Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man. Do the East Germans - and their agents - know more about this man's death than the Circus previously imagined?

Le Carré's first book, Call for the Dead, introduced the tenacious and retiring spy George Smiley in a gripping tale of espionage and deceit.

'Intelligent, thrilling, surprising ... makes most cloak-and-dagger stuff taste of cardboard' Sunday Telegraph


'Brilliant. Realistic. Constant suspense' Observer

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780241330876

  • Length: 176  Pages

  • Dimensions: 181mm x 9mm x 111mm

  • Weight: 107g

  • RRP: £7.99

More in this Series

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About the Author

John le Carré

John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton before serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For more than fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.

John le Carré

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Recommendations

Where to start reading John le Carré books

With a career spanning nearly 60 years, there are plenty of Le Carré novels to discover. But where do you start reading one of the greatest espionage writers of all time? Here is our starter for ten.
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Features

Florence Pugh reads The Little Drummer Girl

Alongside Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Shannon, Florence Pugh stars in The Little Drummer Girl, the latest adaptation of John le Carré’s thrilling novel of espionage and betrayal. Here she reads le Carré’s description of the character that she herself plays in the BBC series.
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Extracts

The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre

In this extract from The Pigeon Tunnel, John le Carré describes the accusations of disloyalty he faced from former Secret Service colleagues - and how Alec Guinness used them in his portrayal of George Smiley

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