Editions

The Naive and Sentimental Lover

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780241337295

  • Length: 512  Pages

  • Dimensions: 197mm x 36mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 451g

  • RRP: £14.99

The Naive and Sentimental Lover

'Splendid ... le Carré shows how endowed he is with the gift of storytelling' The Times

Aldo Cassidy is a cautious man. He has a pleasant family, drives a safe, expensive car and wears luxurious clothes. But his soothing existence is upended when he meets Shamus and Helen - a dazzling, bohemian couple who are everything he is not. As he is drawn into their reckless and unpredictable orbit, all that Cassidy thought he understood about his orderly life begins to unravel.

Told with le Carré's lacerating wit and penetrating observation, The Naive and Sentimental Lover is an acerbic satire of middle-class hypocrisies.

'Le Carré is the equal of any novelist now writing' Guardian

  • Imprint: Penguin Classics

  • ISBN: 9780241337295

  • Length: 512  Pages

  • Dimensions: 197mm x 36mm x 127mm

  • Weight: 451g

  • RRP: £14.99

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About the Author

John le Carré

John le Carré was born in 1931 and died in 2020. He attended the universities of Bern and Oxford, and taught at Eton before serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For more than fifty years he lived by his pen.

John le Carré

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Recommendations

Where to start reading John le Carré books

His death this week marked the end of a career which produced internationally acclaimed novels in every decade from the 1960s onwards. Le Carré’s work was enjoyed by readers and critics alike and adapted multiple times for film and television, making him one of the most celebrated and influential authors of modern times. But where to start if you’re new to this work? 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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