Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
First UK edition
|
|
| Author | John le Carré |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jerry Harpur |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series |
George Smiley / The Quest for Karla |
| Genre | Spy novel |
| Publisher |
Hodder & Stoughton (UK) Random House (USA) |
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Publication date
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June 1974 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 867935 |
| 823/.9/14 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.L4526 Ti3 PR6062.E33 |
| Followed by | The Honourable Schoolboy |
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavors of taciturn, ageing spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. Since the time of its publication, the novel has received critical acclaim for its complex social commentary and lack of sensationalism, and remains a staple of the spy fiction genre.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is John le Carré's novelisation about his experiences of the revelations in the 1950s and the 1960s which exposed the Cambridge Five traitors: Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, John Cairncross, and Kim Philby as KGB moles in the British Intelligence services.
The character Bill Haydon is partly derived from Kim Philby, a senior SIS officer and double agent who defected to the USSR in 1963. David Cornwell (John le Carré) worked as an intelligence officer for both MI5 and the SIS (MI6). He said that Philby betrayed his identity to the Russians, which was a factor in the 1964 termination of his intelligence career.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was followed by The Honourable Schoolboy in 1977 and Smiley's People in 1979. The three novels were later published as an omnibus edition titled Smiley Versus Karla in 1982.
These are the fifth, sixth, and seventh le Carré spy novels featuring George Smiley (The first four being: Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and The Looking Glass War). Two of the characters, Peter Guillam and Inspector Mendel first appeared in le Carré's first book, Call for the Dead (1961).
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