Book description
'A work of rare brilliance' The Times
Charmer, fabulist and tailor to Panama's rich and powerful, Harry Pendel loves to tell stories. But when the British spy Andrew Osnard - a man of large appetites, for women, information and above all money - walks into his shop, Harry's fantastical inventions…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Tailor of Panama as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I have read several John Le Carre novels, but I chose this one because of its ingenious depiction of the psychological traps of spydom.
It’s a satire, and as it moves through a mire of lies and deceit, it digs deeply into the twists and turns of the life of a tailor seemingly forced by bribery and blackmail to be a spy. His only freedom is to release his creativity into a vast new domain of endless deceit, in which, among other things, he drenches his handler with lies.
The story is brimming with surprises, including the fact that there’s…
From Ann's list on bringing you close to what deeply drives people to become spies.
Set in Panama or “Casablanca without heroes” as le Carré himself coined it, Harry Pendel is a tailor to Panama’s powerful, which makes him the perfect agent. When approached by an amoral MI6 spy, he decides to pass on information in exchange for much-needed cash. Only he doesn’t have anything of note to pass on and decides to weave a web of lies instead, much of which begins to come true.
From the modern king of the spy novel and in the vein of Greene’s Our Man in Havana, a more light-hearted, satirical novel and although one of the…
From Lachlan's list on spy books set in Latin America.
If you love The Tailor of Panama...
Citizen Orlov
Not every fishmonger can be a secret agent.
Journey to an unnamed mountainous country in central Europe at the end of the Great War. Enter Citizen Orlov, a simple fishmonger and an honest, upright citizen, who answers a phone call meant for a secret agent and stumbles into a hidden…
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