An extraordinary new novel set in the world of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway
It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war against the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor that George Smiley might almost be happy.
But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Szusanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead.
But in his absence, the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley soon finds himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come and set him on a collision course with the greatest enemy he will ever make.
Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in John le Carré's George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Karla’s Choice marks a momentous return to the world of spy fiction's greatest writer.
Praise for Karla's Choice
"In Karla's Choice, Nick Harkaway has done the impossible and made it look easy. He's written a new George Smiley novel that reads like a long lost le Carré classic. It's a story as gripping as a hand on the throat, a subtle, blood-chilling work of suspense that promises to both enthrall the le Carré faithful and captivate a whole new generation of readers. I was floored." —Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman and Horns
"Karla’s Choice is a note-perfect tribute to le Carré. Nick Harkaway has pulled off the remarkable trick of providing the long-term reader with something which is satisfyingly fresh and new, and yet fits seamlessly into the world of Smiley’s Circus in its heyday." —Mick Herron
"Honestly reads like a lost le Carrè. Smiley is back at the Circus in the safest of hands." —Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club
“Le Carre’s legacy is in good hands—Smiley is back with a vengeance!” —Ian Rankin, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus series
"George Smiley returns in this terrific spy saga from John Le Carré’s son, Titanium Noir author Nicholas Cornwell (writing under the Harkaway pseudonym) . . . Longtime Smiley fans will delight in the enormous cast of familiar characters, the thoughtful meditations on the morality of espionage, and the lived-in tradecraft. [In Karla’s Choice,] Harkaway brilliantly channels his late father’s voice, and in the process delivers an essential new chapter for Smiley and Karla." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The best intelligence work is slow, and ‘spying is waiting.’ [Karla’s Choice] proceeds at a pace to match as it immerses the reader in a world of dread and drear, ‘shadows and sorrows’. . . A Cold War yarn befitting the world of le Carré." —Kirkus Review
NICK HARKAWAY is the author of seven novels, as well as a nonfiction work about digital culture, The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World. He lives in London with his wife, a human rights lawyer, and their two children.
View titles by Nick Harkaway
An extraordinary new novel set in the world of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway
It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war against the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor that George Smiley might almost be happy.
But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Szusanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead.
But in his absence, the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley soon finds himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come and set him on a collision course with the greatest enemy he will ever make.
Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in John le Carré's George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Karla’s Choice marks a momentous return to the world of spy fiction's greatest writer.
Reviews
Praise for Karla's Choice
"In Karla's Choice, Nick Harkaway has done the impossible and made it look easy. He's written a new George Smiley novel that reads like a long lost le Carré classic. It's a story as gripping as a hand on the throat, a subtle, blood-chilling work of suspense that promises to both enthrall the le Carré faithful and captivate a whole new generation of readers. I was floored." —Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman and Horns
"Karla’s Choice is a note-perfect tribute to le Carré. Nick Harkaway has pulled off the remarkable trick of providing the long-term reader with something which is satisfyingly fresh and new, and yet fits seamlessly into the world of Smiley’s Circus in its heyday." —Mick Herron
"Honestly reads like a lost le Carrè. Smiley is back at the Circus in the safest of hands." —Richard Osman, New York Times bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club
“Le Carre’s legacy is in good hands—Smiley is back with a vengeance!” —Ian Rankin, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus series
"George Smiley returns in this terrific spy saga from John Le Carré’s son, Titanium Noir author Nicholas Cornwell (writing under the Harkaway pseudonym) . . . Longtime Smiley fans will delight in the enormous cast of familiar characters, the thoughtful meditations on the morality of espionage, and the lived-in tradecraft. [In Karla’s Choice,] Harkaway brilliantly channels his late father’s voice, and in the process delivers an essential new chapter for Smiley and Karla." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The best intelligence work is slow, and ‘spying is waiting.’ [Karla’s Choice] proceeds at a pace to match as it immerses the reader in a world of dread and drear, ‘shadows and sorrows’. . . A Cold War yarn befitting the world of le Carré." —Kirkus Review
NICK HARKAWAY is the author of seven novels, as well as a nonfiction work about digital culture, The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World. He lives in London with his wife, a human rights lawyer, and their two children.
View titles by Nick Harkaway
