Winner of the Crime Fest HRF Keating Award 'Not merely the conclusive homage to a
compulsively fascinating character but an insightful study into the biographical process
itself' Nicholas Shakespeare 'Now that he is dead we can know him better.' Secrecy came
naturally to John le Carré and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep.
Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage the
novelist conducted a string of love affairs over four decades. To keep these relationships
secret he made use of tradecraft that he had learned as a spy: code names and cover stories
cut outs safe houses and dead letter boxes. Such affairs introduced both jeopardy and
excitement into what was otherwise a quiet ordered life. Le Carré seemed to require the
stimulus they provided in order to write though this meant deceiving those closest to him. It
is no coincidence that betrayal became a recurrent theme in his work. Adam Sisman's definitive
biography published in 2015 revealed much about the elusive spy-turned-novelist yet le Carré
was adamant that some subjects should remain hidden at least during his lifetime. The Secret
Life of John le Carré is the story of what was left out and offers reflections on the
difficult relationship between biographer and subject. More than that it adds a necessary coda
to the life and work of this complex driven restless man. The Secret Life of John le Carré
reveals a hitherto-hidden perspective on the life and work of the spy-turned-author and a
fascinating meditation on the complex relationship between biographer and subject. 'Now that he
is dead ' Sisman writes 'we can know him better.'
