In his fifth outing George Smiley is facing a remarkable challenge: a mole who has burrowed his way in and up to the highest level of British Intelligence.

John le Carré was born in 1931 and attended the universities of Bern and Oxford. He taught at Eton and served briefly in British Intelligence during the Cold War. For more than fifty years he has lived by his pen. He divides his time between London and Cornwall.