Latest news with #spyfiction
BBC News
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Oxford exhibition to showcase John le Carré archive
An exhibition celebrating bestselling spy novelist John le Carré will feature his annotated manuscripts and personal will go on display at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford on 1 October, offering a glimpse into the Dorset-born author's writing process and personal Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, wrote acclaimed novels including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and The Night Manager. He died in 2020 aged son, author Nick Harkaway, said holding the exhibition - titled John le Carré: Tradecraft - at the Bodleian felt "like a homecoming." "Oxford took my father in when he was desperate to escape his own father's malign influence and kept his place when he couldn't afford it," said Mr Harkaway."The Bodleian was his refuge then and his choice for his archive now."The exhibition will include research notes, drafts and corrections from le Carré's novels, alongside original sketches, watercolours and letters to fans and the highlights is a letter from actor Sir Alec Guinness, who questioned his suitability to play George Smiley — le Carré's best-known character — writing that he was "not really rotund and double-chinned". The author persuaded Guinness to take the role in the BBC adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which aired to critical acclaim in the late display spans le Carré's life, from his time as an Oxford student to drafts written in his final weeks, with some material being shown publicly for the first was curated by le Carré's longtime collaborator Prof Federico Varese and Dr Jessica Douthwaite, with support from the author's a joint statement, the pair said the exhibition would uncover the author's "researcher's spirit, commitment to understanding real-world problems, meticulous attention to detail and working relationships". You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway audiobook review – a new Smiley from le Carré's son
It is 1963 and, having retired from 'the Circus', spymaster George Smiley is looking forward to a trip abroad with his wife, Anne. But when a Soviet assassin has a sudden change of heart before murdering László Bánáti, a spy masquerading as a literary agent in London, Smiley finds himself back at work. He must find Bánáti and persuade him to become a British asset, a pursuit that leads him to an old foe. Dreamed up as the unflashy antithesis of James Bond, Smiley is, of course, the creation of the late John le Carré. But in Karla's Choice, he is brought to life by Nick Harkaway, Le Carré's youngest son. Harkaway, who also completed 2021's unfinished Silverview, writes in a style barely distinguishable from his father, save for some necessary tweaks – a faster pace and more believable female characters. Our narrator is the actor Simon Russell Beale, who previously played Le Carré's protagonist in a series of BBC radio plays. Russell Beale's performance here is fluent yet understated, his Smiley preternaturally calm even when visiting his wife in Vienna and being informed by the hotel concierge that she is busy with her husband. The audiobook also features a foreword written and narrated by Harkaway who acknowledges there will be fans who will deem his tackling Smiley as 'absurd hubris', despite Le Carré's wish that there should be more books after his death. 'My Smiley is my father's but he's also the Smiley we collectively inherit,' he notes. 'The job is to produce a volume … that must move you, hold on to you and leave you wanting more.' Job done. Available via Penguin Audio, 10hr 42 min Say EverythingIone Skye, HarperCollins, 8hr 38minA coming-of-age memoir by the actor and daughter of folk icon Donovan. Read by the author. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion ButcherJoyce Carol Oates, Fourth Estate, 13hr 11minA cast of narrators including Edoardo Ballerini and Amy Shiels read Oates's fictional biography of a 19th-century doctor who conducts brutal experiments on female patients at a lunatic asylum.
