Chosen as a Book of the Year in The Times Literary Supplement, the Evening Standard, the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, The Times
'A brilliant novel of deception, love and trust to join his supreme cannon' Evening Standard
'Vintage le Carré. Immensely clever, breathtaking. Really, not since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold has le Carré exercised his gift as a storyteller so powerfully and to such thrilling effect' John Banville, Guardian
Peter Guillam, former disciple of George Smiley in the British Secret Service, has long retired to Brittany when a letter arrives, summoning him to London. The reason? Cold War ghosts have come back to haunt him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of the Service are to be dissected by a generation with no memory of the Berlin Wall. Somebody must pay for innocent blood spilt in the name of the greater good . . .
'Utterly engrossing and perfectly pitched. There is only one le Carré. Eloquent, subtle, sublimely paced' Daily Mail
'Splendid, fast-paced, riveting' Andrew Marr, Sunday Times
'Remarkable. It gives the reader, at long last, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have been missing for 54 years. Like wine, le Carré's writing has got richer with age' The Times
'Perhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the 20th century in Britain. He's in the first rank' Ian McEwan
'One of those writers who will be read a century from now' Robert Harris
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Imprint: Penguin
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Published: 07/09/2017
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ISBN: 9780241981238
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Length: 368 Pages
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RRP: £8.99
Reviews
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Vintage le Carré as he ingeniously closes the circle of his long career ... This is an immensely clever piece of novelistic engineering, of which its deviser can be justifiably proud. The ingenuity and skill with which the thing is brought off is breathtaking - really, not since The Spy Who Came in From The Cold has le Carré exercised his gift as a storyteller so powerfully and to such thrilling effect.
John Banville, The Guardian
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This novel offers more than one pleasure. It is not merely good in itself - vintage John le Carré. It gives the reader, at long last, pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have been missing for 54 years.... A Legacy of Spies does something remarkable. Le Carré takes a le Carré classic and thickens it into something different from what it was....Like wine, le Carré's writing has got richer with age...Don't wait for the paperback
The Times
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Perhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the 20th century in Britain. He will have charted our decline and recorded the nature of our bureaucracies like no one else has. He's in the first rank
Ian McEwan
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le Carré's masterful new novel
Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian
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It is a splendid novel...It is riveting, bitter and will be controversial...le Carré's handling of dialogue remains perfectly fresh. Who else can tell you so much about so many people so quickly? Not a syllable is wasted
Andrew Marr, The Sunday Times
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The English canon has rarely seen an acclaimed novelist and popular entertainer sustain such a hot streak in old age....A Legacy of Spies achieves many things. Outstandingly, it is a defiant assertion of creative vigour...Cornwell is signing off with a poignant and brilliant au revoir to le Carré, his alter ego, a writer who is with the immortals
The Observer
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A Legacy of Spies deploys a complex and ingeniously layered structure to make the past alive in the present once more ... le Carré has not lost his touch
Evening Standard
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His writing is as crisp as ever ... another tale of intrigue which will slip effortlessly into its place in the Smiley canon
Daily Express
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A tense, intricately plotted espionage thriller . . . sheer genius from le Carré
Saga Magazine
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A compelling tale of Cold War duplicity and manoeuvrings in the British secret service ... as ever much of the pleasure of reading le Carre is that you have to be on your intellectual mettle
William Boyd, New Statesman
