Karla’s Choice: A John le Carré Novel

John le Carré’s Cold War super spy George Smiley is back in this novel set in the missing decade between The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It’s the spring of 1963, and Smiley has retired. He and his wife are enjoying their new life of peace and quiet. Then, a Russian spy on a kill mission defects, and Control insists that Smiley gets back in the game. At first, his assignment is to interview the woman to whom the Russian surrendered. However, Smiley gets increasingly involved in the twisting narrative surrounding the defector and the man he was supposed to assassinate. Writing under the pen name Harkaway (Titanium Noir), le Carré’s son Nicholas Cornwell resurrects the characters from his father’s novels to create a new and compelling story. Prose, plot, and character building make the old Smiley new again. Harkaway thoughtfully narrates the novel’s foreword, explaining his reasons for reviving Smiley and apologizing to listeners who object to this audacious goal. Primary narrator Simon Russell Beale provides a host of accents, including a British voice that contrasts nicely with his renditions of Hungarian and Russian characters.