This is our final opportunity to delve into le Carré’s world of secrets. What began with George Smiley ends with another flawed character, Edward Avon, although the main narrative centres on his new friend, Julian Lawndsley. Julian has left behind a successful city career to open a seaside bookshop. He knows much about money and little about literature. Into this knowledge gap jumps Edward, a lover of books, who claims he was a contemporary of Julian’s father. Julian is instantly on alert – Edward is charismatic and passionate but may not be who he seems.

A parallel narrative introduces Stewart Proctor, who’s overseeing an issue involving UK-US relations. He’s the fixer who tidies Secret Service messes. The narratives seem alien to each other but the reader knows they will eventually converge with Edward somehow at the intersection.

Edward becomes increasingly secretive and agitated. He asks Julian to convey an envelope to a lady friend in London. Julian agrees but his antennae are raised, particularly as Edward’s wife, Deborah is terminally ill. When Julian attends a dinner at the Avon house, Silverview, he’s immediately aware that the marriage is an unhappy one. The daughter, Lily, acts as a buffer, explaining to Julian that both parents have been involved in the Service. The relationship between Julian and Lily blossoms.

Proctor’s investigation finally uncovers the reason behind Deborah and Edward’s coolness.

Le Carré covers a lot of territory with his last novel: from Britain to the Middle East and war in the Balkans. Julian’s adept ability to conquer his steep learning curves appears to set him up as a future agent but that le Carré novel will have to wait for another life.

Reviewed by Bob Moore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John le Carré was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At 16 he found refuge at the university of Bern, then later at Oxford.

A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5&6).

He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant.

His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People.

At the end of the Cold War, le Carré widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020.

His posthumous novel Silverview was published in 2021.