John le Carre: The Biography

by Adam Sisman

Overview

"An insightful and highly readable portrait of a writer and a man who has often been as elusive and enigmatic as his fictional heroes.” —Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

The definitive biography of the internationally adored author of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and A Perfect Spy—arguably one of the most important and influential writers of the post-World War II period—by the award-winning biographer Adam Sisman.

In this definitive biography—blessed by John le Carré himself—Adam Sisman reveals the man behind the bestselling persona. In John le Carré, Sisman shines a spotlight on David Cornwell, an expert at hiding in plain sight—“born to lying,” he wrote in 2002, “bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practiced in it as a novelist.”

Of course, the pseudonym “John le Carré” has helped to keep the public at a distance. Sisman probes Cornwell’s unusual upbringing, abandoned by his mother at the age of only five and raised by his con man father (when not in prison), and explores his background in British intelligence, as well as his struggle to become a writer, and his personal life. Sisman has benefited from unfettered access to le Carré’s private archive, talked to the most important people in his life, and interviewed the man himself at length.

Who is John le Carré? Intriguing, thorough, and packed with entertaining detail, this biography will be a treat for the legions of le Carré fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062106292
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/03/2015
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	720
Sales rank:	239,014
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Adam Sisman has written four previous biographies, including An Honourable Englishman: The Life of Hugh Trevor-Roper; The Friendship: Wordsworth and Coleridge; and Boswell’s Presumptuous Task, which was shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times book prize and received a National Books Critics Circle award in 1999. He lives in Bristol, England.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction xiv

1 Millionaire paupers 1

2 'We seek higher things' 24

3 God and Mammon 45

4 Wandering in the fog 71

5 Serving your country 90

6 'That little college in Turl' 116

7 'This really is the end' 136

8 Poor but happy 155

9 'Milk in first and then Indian' 170

10 'A dead-end sort of place' 186

11 A small town in Germany 210

12 Becoming John Je Carré 239

13 Naive and sentimental love 264

14 Caught in the machine 287

15 Rich but restless 312

16 Keeping the bitterness at bay 348

17 'You treated your father very badly' 376

18 'Does anyone know what's going on?' 395

19 'The Love Thief' 423

20 Moscow Rules 452

21 'Whatever are you going to write now?' 478

22 'He makes us look so good' 506

23 The Secret Centre 526

24 'Mr Angry' 547

25 Beating the System 572

Notes 601

Select Bibliography 628

Index 632

Editorial Reviews

…absorbing…an insightful and highly readable portrait of a writer and a man who has often been as elusive and enigmatic as his fictional heroes. Mr. Sisman does a nimble job of tracing correspondences between le Carré's novels and David Cornwell's life, while judiciously trying to sift out what he calls "examples of false memory on David's part"…The first half of the biography detailing Mr. Cornwell's youth, his education and his years with British intelligence are never less than compelling for the le Carré fan…

The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani

…admiring without being toadying, detailed without being overstuffed, highly readable and, above all, knowledgeable about the work…Sisman is the kind of thorough, serious writer who inspires trust—one feels that if he has been discreet, he doesn't compromise our understanding of the life…Biography is a balancing act, and mostly Sisman gets the proportions right…Most biographies have to slog through an only marginally interesting youth until the real story kicks in. Not here. This is a childhood worthy of Dickens, filled with pathos and callous adult indifference, but also a swirl of topsy-turvy scenes all dominated by a larger-than-life father so colorful and outsize he might have been sketched by Phiz…This is very much (and rightly) a writer's biography, with telling glimpses of the writing process…and irresistible trivia…But most important, Sisman shows us le Carré's almost monastic devotion to his craft, a man for whom writing is life.

The New York Times Book Review - Joseph Kanon

The definitive [authorized!] biography of the internationally adored author of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”-arguably one of the most important and influential writers of the post-World War II period-by the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning biographer Adam Sisman.

My Edmonds News (Seattle

In John le Carré: The Biography, Mr. Sisman creates an insightful and highly readable portrait of a writer and a man who has often been as elusive and enigmatic as his fictional heroes.

Michiko Kakutani

A candid and enthralling account of heartache, betrayal and adventure, and how hard facts helped create great fiction.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Sisman has written an admirable biography. It’s at its best when recounting...David’s struggles to escape from his father’s malign influence and find purpose in life, which he did when the worldwide success of his third novel...liberated him to write full time.

The Financial Times

Admiring without being toadying, detailed without being overstuffed, highly readable and, above all, knowledgeable about the work. . . . Sisman is the kind of thorough, serious writer who inspires trust...and what we take away is a new appreciation of le Carré‘s full range.

Joseph Kanon for The New York Times Book Review

A fascinating [and] superb biography, bristling with fresh insights.

BBC.com

Loose threads are what fascinate most about Adam Sisman’s biography of David Cornwell, who at 84 still writes and publishes knotty, brainy thrillers under the pseudonym John le Carré…Best of all, Sisman provides aficionados of le Carré‘s fiction with canny assessments of, and inside information on all his written work.

USA Today

What could have been a cloying hagiography or a lurid warts-and-all exposé is instead a balanced, focused and compelling study of a man of depth and individuality… This biography expertly shows how distance, distrust and even disillusionment have informed Mr le Carré and influenced his bestselling fiction.

The Economist

A talented biographer brings the great spy novelist in from the cold.

Washington Independent Review of Books

It is a disappointment to reach the end of John le Carré which is admirably scholarly.

Wall Street Journal

The major themes of Adam Sisman’s meticulously researched John le Carré: The Biography are twofold: the desperate search for love and artful self-invention through spying and writing fiction . . . . [the book] is unfailingly engrossing.

San Francisco Chronicle

It is a disappointment to reach the end of John le Carré which is admirably scholarly.

Wall Street Journal

Loose threads are what fascinate most about Adam Sisman’s biography of David Cornwell, who at 84 still writes and publishes knotty, brainy thrillers under the pseudonym John le Carré…Best of all, Sisman provides aficionados of le Carré‘s fiction with canny assessments of, and inside information on all his written work.

USA Today

The major themes of Adam Sisman’s meticulously researched John le Carré: The Biography are twofold: the desperate search for love and artful self-invention through spying and writing fiction . . . . [the book] is unfailingly engrossing.

San Francisco Chronicle

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