John Le Carre: The Biography

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Over half a century since The Spy Who came in from the Cold made John le Carré a worldwide, bestselling sensation, David Cornwell, the man behind the pseudonym, remains an enigma. He has consistently quarried his life for his writing, and his novels seem to offer tantalizing glimpses of their author - but in the narrative of his life fact and fiction have become intertwined, and little is really known of one of the world's most successful writers.In Cornwell's lonely childhood Adam Sisman uncovers the origins of the themes of love and abandonment which have dominated le Carré's fiction: the departure of his mother when he was five, followed by 'sixteen hugless years' in the dubious care of his father, a man of energy and charm, a serial seducer and conman who hid the Bentleys in the trees when the bailiffs came calling - a 'totally incomprehensible father' who could 'put a hand on your shoulder and the other in your pocket, both gestures equally sincere'. And in Cornwell's adult life - from recruitment by both MI5 and MI6, through marriage and family life, to his emergence as the master of the spy novel - Sisman explores the idea of espionage and its significance in human terms; the extent to which betrayal is acceptable in exchange for love; and the endless need for forgiveness, especially from oneself.Written with exclusive access to David Cornwell himself, to his private archive and to the most important people in his life - family, friends, enemies, intelligence ex-colleagues and ex-lovers - and featuring a wealth of previously unseen photographic material, Adam Sisman's extraordinarily insightful and constantly revealing biography brings in from the cold a man whose own life has been as complex and confounding and filled with treachery as any of his novels. 'I'm a liar,' Cornwell has written. 'Born to lying, bred to it, trained to it by an industry that lies for a living, practised in it as a novelist.'This is the definitive biography of a major writer, described by Ian McEwan as 'perhaps the most significant novelist of the second half of the twentieth century in Britain'.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Writing the biography of anyone during their lifetime is difficult; it is especially problematic when the subject is an enigma who spent 50 years weaving a complex backstory that has only been added to by conjecture. The former spy, born David Cornwell and going by the pseudonym John le Carré, the best-selling author of more than 20 novels (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold), is the subject of this intense and exhaustive biography. Sisman (Hugh Trevor-Roper) doesn't pull any punches in looking at the author's life, investigating his difficult childhood, with a con man father and a mother who abandoned their family, his career with British Intelligence (MI5 and MI6) that was cut short by a double agent, a troubled marriage, and the writing career that easily places le Carré among the top British authors of the latter half of the 20th century. Michael Page's narration is natural and will keep listeners' attention. -VERDICT This rare glimpse into a gifted, highly successful, and troubled life is recommended for le Carré's fans and anyone interested in well-executed biographies.-Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.