The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The classic Cold War thriller, available as a Penguin Essential for the first timeThe Cold War is at its most chill. Alec Leamas, a seasoned British Intelligence officer whose entire East German network has been arrested or shot, leaves West Berlin for London, believing his career is over. But his master, Control, knows that Leamas is good for a last mission- one that will allow him to take his revenge on the ruthless East German counterintelligence chief who has killed or imprisoned his agents. And lurking discreetly in the background, George Smiley will be pulling the operational strings.

“The best spy story I have ever read”

Passionate, intense, wonderful -- David Nicholls
-- Graham Greene
A masterpiece, the best espionage novel ever written -- John Banville
One of those writers who will be read a century from now -- Robert Harris

John le Carre was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the University of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5 & 6). He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carre widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020. His posthumous novel, Silverview, was published in 2021.

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