John le Carr\u00c3\u00a9 was a defining writer of his time.<\/b> 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.<\/b>
_____<\/p>\n
‘The symbiosis of author and editor, father and son, has resulted in a brilliant book, le Carr\u00c3\u00a9’s final masterpiece’ <\/b>5*, Jake Kerridge, <\/b>Sunday Telegraph<\/i>
_____<\/i><\/p>\n
A Private Spy <\/i>spans seven decades and chronicles not only le Carr\u00c3\u00a9’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 Carr\u00c3\u00a9 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.
_____<\/p>\n
Includes letters to:<\/b>
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…<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John le Carr\u00c3\u00a9 was one of the greatest novelists of his generation but also had an extraordinary life, from his childhood with a con man father to his inimitable career as a writer. From his involvement in the Cold War, time in Berlin, travels to Vietnam and engagement with world leaders, his experiences were truly remarkable. This collection of letters reveals John le Carr\u00c3\u00a9 – the man, the writer and his world – for the first time and most intimately. Including letters to Stephen Fry and about Mrs Thatcher, and correspondence with Alec Guinness and a ten-year-old aspiring spy, selected letters come together with crispness and clarity to illuminate the extraordinary writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[641],"product_tag":[18000,27091],"class_list":["post-99244","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-biography","product_tag-diaries","product_tag-letters-journals","pa_book_author-le-carr-john","pa_cover-paperback","pa_dewey-823-914-edition23","pa_imprint-penguin-books","pa_language-english","pa_pages-xxxiii-713-16-unnumbered-of-plates","pa_publisher-penguin-books","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","onbackorder","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n