John le Carre - The Pigeon Tunnel (2016) epub retail

Nonfiction memoir.

Once upon a time, John le Carré was a literary enigma appropriate to his genre, the spy thriller. He kept himself in the shadows, rarely if ever gave interviews, and cultivated a persona that offered a teasing mix of riddle and conundrum.

Those days are long gone. In 2015, there was an authorised biography. And now, despite an admitted “childish aversion” towards the press, and a declared love for “the privacy of writing”, here he comes again, with “Stories from My Life”, The Pigeon Tunnel.

For Cornwell watchers, this rag-bag compilation of old and new material will seem like vintage Le Carré. “Stories” is the key word. Cornwell remains a magician of plot and counter-plot, a master storyteller. But look behind the smoke and mirrors and you will find a more reflective and slightly chastened figure, passion spent, and perhaps less comfortable than hitherto in the world of cross and double-cross he has created around himself.

.epub retail version.