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John le Carré was a defining writer of his time. This enthralling collection letters - written to readers, publishers, film-makers and actors, politicians and public figures - reveals the playfully intelligent and unfailingly eloquent man behind the penname.
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'The symbiosis of author and editor, father and son, has resulted in a brilliant book, le Carré's final masterpiece' 5*, Jake Kerridge, Sunday Telegraph
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A Private Spy spans seven decades and chronicles not only le Carré's own life but the turbulent times to which he was witness. Beginning with his 1940s childhood, it includes accounts of his National Service and his time at Oxford, and his days teaching the 'chinless, pointy-nosed gooseberry-eyed British lords' at Eton. It describes his entry into MI5 and the rise of the Iron Curtain, and the flowering of his career as a novelist in reaction to the building of the Berlin Wall. Through his letters we travel with him from the Second World War period to the immediate moment in which we live. We find le Carré writing to Sir Alec Guinness to persuade him to take on the role of George Smiley, and later arguing the immorality of the War on Terror with the chief of the German internal security service. What emerges is a portrait not only of the writer, or of the global intellectual, but, in his own words, of the very private, very passionate and very real man behind the name.
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Includes letters to:
John Banville
William Burroughs
John Cheever
Stephen Fry
Graham Greene
Sir Alec Guinness
Hugh Laurie
Ben Macintyre
Ian McEwan
Gary Oldman
Philip Roth
Philippe Sands
Sir Tom Stoppard
Margaret Thatcher
And more...

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  • We started tracking this book on December 7, 2022.
  • This book was £10.99 when we started tracking it.
  • The price of this book has changed 4 times in the past 478 days.
  • The current price of this book is £7.99 last checked 16 hours ago.
  • This book is at its lowest price in the past 90 days.
  • This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is £0.99.
  • The lowest price to date was £0.99 last reached on June 23, 2023.
  • This book has been £0.99 one time since we started tracking it.
  • The highest price to date was £10.99 last reached on December 7, 2022.
  • This book has been £10.99 one time since we started tracking it.

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Additional Info

  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Lending: Disabled
  • Print Length: 682 Pages
  • File Size: 29,857 KB

We last verified the price of this book about 16 hours ago. At that time, the price was £7.99. This price is subject to change. The price displayed on the Amazon.co.uk website at the time of purchase is the price you will pay for this book. Please confirm the price before making any purchases.