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A Legacy of Spies

by John le Carré Book 9 in the George Smiley series.

First published 2017

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4.0(47,750)

Peter Guillam is summoned from retirement when a lawsuit reopens the British operation behind Alec Leamas's death. Files once treated as protected state secrets are now being examined by lawyers and younger officers who do not accept the Cold War assumptions of their predecessors.

Guillam is forced to reconstruct his part in the deception and to confront what George Smiley expected of him. The novel revisits The Spy Who Came in from the Cold from the perspective of those who survived and asks whether national purpose can excuse the deliberate ruin of individual lives.

Historical Periods

Berlin Wall and Divided Berlin1961–1989 CE Post-war Britain1945–1963 CE

Genres

Court & Political Fiction Espionage Historical Thriller

Series reading order

Books in the George Smiley series

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