As of the 27th September 2018, Penguin Modern Classics have published the entire works of John Le Carré, making him the living author with the greatest body of work to be awarded classic status. The project took nine years to compete.

To celebrate this and the new six-part BBC adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl coming soon starring Alexander Skarsgard and Florence Pugh, Penguin have organised a three week blog tour with bloggers each reviewing a different John Le Carré book. There is also a fab giveaway to enter at the bottom of this page too.

This is the first John Le Carré book that I have ever read. When I mentioned it to a few people that I would be reading it they all said the same thing, ‘it is a great book to get me introduced to the author’s work’. I will admit that I know of the book and that a few years ago there was a BBC adaptation of it and a recent movie. Alas, I have seen none, so apart from the synopsis and little snippets people were telling me, I knew nothing about the book.

My first impressions of Le Carré’s work is how rich in vocabulary it is, you can certainly tell it was written a few decades ago from the carefully chosen descriptive words. Whilst this is a spy story set during the Cold War, there is no James Bond bling to it.

George Smiley is a fascinating character. He has been brought back from retirement (this is the fifth George Smiley book), and give the task of searching for a mole high up in the ranks of the MI6. As well as George there is a vast array of characters, too many to mention and at times I did feel a little confused as to who was who. This is most definitely a book you need to concentrate on.

It did take me a while to read and at times I re-read pages just to make sure I had the story straight. I feel this is more down to the fact I rarely read older books, so the language and the tone took some getting used to.

Overall I found the book absorbing. I was expecting the plot to jump right into the thick of it, so I was a little confused by the opening scenes in a school, but everything came together nicely.

I have now been compelled to read more by John Le Carré, including ‘The Little Drummer Girl’, though I might watch the BBC adaptation coming soon first this time.

About the Author

John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For more than fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.