r/LeCarre

I had only read the George Smiley related novels by John Le Carré. I have been collecting all of his none George Smiley books so that I can read them (and hopefully) enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the Smiley books.

In my purchasing of the other Le Carré novels I found out his son wrote Karla's Choice.

Which has caused me a dilemma.

I'm not sure I want to read a book about a character I really enjoyed by the original authors son, no matter how good a writer he may be.

My concerns aside for one moment, is this book worth purchasing? Le Carré had a very particular style and wit and the way he wrote Smiley was just superb.

What's the consensus here on Karla's Choice?

I just finished “A Legacy of Spies” in my first read through of the Smiley series. Loved the series, Le Carre is one of the best writers I’ve ever encountered.

I enjoyed A Legacy of Spies, although was confused about timelines similar to other readers who have posted here. There was one passage in particular that really confused me: >!Christoph, Alec’s son, states that he’s visited his father in prison. If I remember correctly, Alec was in prison during the early stages of Operation Windfall in England. During the passage where Guillam and Alec visit Christoph, he’s living in Germany with his mother. So when would Christoph have visited his father while in prison? When I initially read it, I thought it was a reveal that Leamas hadn’t been shot dead at the wall and instead had languished in an East German prison, but then I realized that Christoph and his mother lived ostensibly in West Germany and was even more confused.!<

As you can see, I’m very confused! I’d appreciate it if someone with better reading comprehension than I could explain this part of the novel to me.

Hi there,

I have a question about the dramatised audiobooks from Audible. I'd like to listen to them but can you follow them with the Penguin Books edition of Looking Glass War or do they skip over bits and that's what dramatised means?

Michael Jayston is my favorite but he seems hard to track down.

Thanks for the help!

Am I misremembering?

I just rewatched the BBC series on iPlayer and have a question about the penultimate episode with Toby Esterhase in the trap.

What I thought happened, Smiley and Peter use his Hungarian birth as leverage to break him in the safe house. Esterhase freaks. And gives them what they need… At least that’s how I remember it… (This was even more overt in the film when they take him to the airfield and threaten to send him back to Eastern Europe).

But there was no mention of this on rewatch. Have I imagined this? Or has it been removed?

A few days ago I came across a volume by Eric Ambler, who started writing spy books before Le Carre although their careers overlapped a little. Ambler was the master of the #accidentalspy.

John le Carré is less associated with that tradition. His world is full of professionals, people who understand the game, even if they mistrust it. Which is why Our Kind of Traitor feels like something of a departure.

At the book's centre are a teacher and a lawyer on holiday. They are not recruited so much as drawn in. By the time they realise what’s at stake, they are already entangled.

In accidental spy novels, remarkable things happen to unremarkable people. They don’t seek the situation, but proximity, circumstance, or a flaw (or more often and most intriguing, a virtue) in their character makes them susceptible to involvement. That is very much the case here.

Our Kind of Traitor builds slowly but is dramatic towards the end. It is probably not among the very top tier of le Carré’s work, but it is one of his more accessible novels, and one I enjoy.

And I have a signed copy. Which always makes me happy!

Nick Harkaway will have a new Smiley book out on 17 Nov 2026 entitled The Taper Man. I happened to be looking on Amazon and noticed it will be coming. Loved his first Smily book entitled Karla’s Choice.

Question: Does LeCarre return characters from previous books often or are roles more likely to be filled by new creations? How much more appreciation does reading in publication order give you?

spoilers for TTSS till page 116, TSWCIFTC, TLGW and CFTD.

Hello everyone, the questions are above and the commentary is my little payment.

I’ve been meaning to read LeCarre since primary school, but I never got my hands on TTSS. I’m glad I didn’t, knowing me back then I wouldve powered through, not understanding a thing, and spoiled the ending, never to reread it. Many years later I’ve finally gotten around to him.

I tried TTSS earlier this year and DNFd it, a little confused and thinking that reading the previous books would help. This weekend I ate TSWCIFTC, TLGW and CFTD in that order.

TSWCIFTC was riveting and I was extremely impressed by Le Carres ability to juggle personality’s and motivations, giving us insight and realistic reactions even when we aren’t given insight into the characters themselves.

TLGW may be one of my favourite novels till the day I die. One day I’ll write extensively about it, but it’s due a few rereads first. It spoke to an anxiety of ineptitude and a certainty that I wasn’t the only one muddling along, limited by my nature that I’ve always felt.

CFTD was a good time and reminded me of the sort of things I’d read as a kid, just good fun. Smiley is very pleasant company.

I jumped to the Karla trilogy because I can’t wait anymore, I will go back to ASTIG eventually but I understand it’s even more disconnected than TLGW. I’m a little surprised by how little of the TTSS cast ive experienced, is that really it for Control? I thought maybe I would’ve seen more of characters like Connie before she was sached, or Tarrs father. The book also has an end of the original circus feel to it but I never really got to know it.

I’m not complaining, Guillam is a familiar face and so is Mendel. I’m still very early though, but I feel like some of the pivotal players are new.

All a little disjointed, it’s late and I’ve had a long day at work. Having a ruddy good time though.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Smiley takes himself off to a parking garage in leafy St John’s wood to interview a former “lamp lighter” of Eastern European extraction who, secretly, assisted Prideaux on his ill fate mission to Brno at the start of the book.

Max has also been fired from the service at this point, and is wary of talking about the incident, even to Smiley. He seems to be working as a general mechanic and/or parking assistant/supervisor.

Did Smiley deduce Max assisted based on guess work alone, or because of something he discovered in the files he was poring over in Paddington??

Max, of course, returns with a bigger role in Smiley’s people. I often forget his cameo in this book because the BBC TV adaptation leaves it out.