John Le Carré’s Son Revives His Late Dad's Spy

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John Le Carey wrote spy novels that transcended the genre. Philip Roth called Le Care's 1986 novel A Perfect Spy the best English novel since the war. The author's most beloved character was George Smiley, the physically unassuming but brilliant British spymaster. He was the protagonist of many Le Care novels, including Tinker Taylor's Soldier Spy and Smiley's People, both of which were adapted into hit TV miniseries starring Alec Guinness as George Smiley. Le Care, whose real name was David Cornwell, died in 2020, but George Smiley returned last year in the novel called Carla's Choice.

It was written by Cornwell's son, Nick, who goes by his own pen name, Nick Harkaway. Harkaway spoke with fresh air Sam Brigger last year. Here's Sam. Carla's choice takes place in 1963 between Le Carey's novels The Spy Who Came In From the Cold and Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. Smiley has retired from the circus, the nickname for the British Overseas Intelligence Agency, after an agent and his lover were killed in East Berlin, their lives sacrificed for the success of a mission, a decision Smiley initially agreed to, but has come to regret.

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