Book cover of A Legacy of Spies

Book description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The undisputed master returns with his first Smiley novel in more than twenty-five years--a #1 New York Times bestseller and ideal holiday gift.

Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out…

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Why read it?

3 authors picked A Legacy of Spies as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John Le Carre was a master of the thriller genre and this book brought it all together. His use of English is as nuanced as the characters themselves.

The sins and tragedies of the Cold War are resurrected in Le Carré’s late-career novel, A Legacy of Spies.

After retiring from MI6, Peter Guillam is summoned back to London by his former bosses, intent on clearing up a botched spy operation first described in The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. 

A Legacy of Spies shows that a story revolving around bureaucratic turf wars and incriminating paper trails can be just as suspenseful as any of James Bond’s implausible high-tech adventures.

George Smiley, among the 20th century’s most compelling fictional characters, makes a guest appearance, drawing us back…

I’ve loved Le Carre’s books since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and I’ve learned from each of them. I chose this one for several reasons. It was published in 2017, and I believe it was the last one published during his lifetime. One of his contributions is that he wrote the best interrogation scenes ever done, and this book is all interrogation. A favorite character, Peter Guillam is under investigation for his role in the events of the Cold War spying and those of George Smiley, Alec Leamas, et al. The book shows us in detail…

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