LONDON (AP) 鈥� , the subtle fictional spymaster navigating treacherous Cold War currents, is back.
And so, somewhat surprisingly, is his creator, John le Carr茅.
Four years after the spy writer鈥檚 , comes a new thriller, 鈥淜arla鈥檚 Choice.鈥� Billed as 鈥渁 John le Carr茅 novel,鈥� it was written by Nick Harkaway, whose qualifications for the job include seven published novels, a lifetime of reading le Carr茅 鈥� and the fact he is the late author鈥檚 son.
After decades avoiding his famous father鈥檚 shadow, like Smiley trying to leave the intelligence agency known as the Circus, he was drawn back in.
Apprehensive author
Le Carr茅 left a note asking his family, as custodians of his estate, to help his works live on and find new readers. They took that as permission to write new books. But Harkaway, who made his name with sci-fi thrillers including 鈥淭he Gone-Away World,鈥� 鈥淎ngelmaker鈥� and 鈥淭itanium Noir,鈥� was apprehensive about being the one to do it.
鈥淚 would go so far as to say terrified,鈥� said 51-year-old Harkaway, whose real name is Nicholas Cornwell. Le Carr茅 was the pen name of his father, David Cornwell.
鈥淚t鈥檚 this piece of 20th-century literature that defines a genre and potentially a historical period. This body of work is immense. And it鈥檚 my father鈥檚 universe,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 every reason for people to be skeptical.鈥�
Sitting in his spacious north London home 鈥� in the 鈥渧ery uncomfortable鈥� writing chair that once belonged to his father 鈥� Harkaway has relaxed a bit now that the book has been published (by Viking) to largely glowing reviews. The Daily Telegraph said Harkaway鈥檚 鈥渞ecreation of the Smiley milieu is note-perfect,鈥� while The Guardian declared the novel 鈥渁 treat.鈥�
鈥淜arla鈥檚 Choice鈥� is set in 1963, months after the end of le Carr茅鈥檚 breakthrough novel, 鈥淭he Spy Who Came in From the Cold.鈥� It opens with a hitman, dispatched by Moscow to assassinate a Hungarian publisher in London, having a last-minute crisis of conscience.
A recently retired Smiley is pulled in for one last job. He鈥檚 assured it will be short and simple. Famous last words.
The peril-filled saga that follows fleshes out the early relationship between Smiley and the Soviet spymaster Karla, who becomes his nemesis in later works like 鈥淭inker Tailor Soldier Spy鈥� and 鈥淪miley鈥檚 People.鈥�
Childhood memories
Harkaway says that once he got over his terror, capturing Smiley鈥檚 voice came easily 鈥� he had literally grown up with it. Some of his earliest memories involve his father reading aloud draft pages of his works in progress.
鈥淭he formative moment in my life where I was actually learning to speak, was learning to use language, I was getting 90 minutes or more of George Smiley in my ear every day,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd so when I came to sit down to do this, I found that I did not have to turn the dial very far to find a voice that is absolutely my own, but which reads to people as being sufficiently of the le Carr茅 mood.鈥�
That mood is often dark. Le Carr茅 had been a real-life Cold War intelligence agent, and his thrillers are steeped in the moral murk of the spy world. But bespectacled, understated Smiley 鈥� antithesis of that other famous fictional spy, James Bond 鈥� offers decency and hope.
Harkaway sees Smiley as 鈥渢his compassionate, anonymous little everyman who can turn up and see the broken pieces of life on the floor and put them back together.鈥�
There is a bit more humor in 鈥淜arla鈥檚 Choice鈥� than in many of his father鈥檚 books, and female characters, including Smiley's wife Ann, get more space and voice.
鈥淚 had a flat-out ambition that the Circus and the Circus universe should not just be elderly, straight white men,鈥� Harkaway said.
He acknowledges that women were often on the sidelines in his father鈥檚 work 鈥� a reflection of the male-dominated era, and of a complicated life. David Cornwell鈥檚 mother left when he was 5 years old, leaving him with his father, a charismatic conman. He didn鈥檛 see her again until he was 21. As an adult he had two long marriages 鈥� the second to Harkaway鈥檚 mother, Valerie Jane Eustace 鈥� and multiple affairs.
鈥淥n a fundamental level for him, his relationships with women were about absence and pain,鈥� Harkaway said. 鈥淭hat got better over time. But when he was writing Smiley, that鈥檚 what came through. And that鈥檚 not my life.鈥�
Grief and joy
Harkaway says working on the book didn鈥檛 bring 鈥渁n Obi Wan Kenobi moment鈥� in which an apparition of his father appeared to offer writing advice. But he found the experience 鈥渧ery moving.鈥�
鈥淒espite the fact that it鈥檚 鈥� slightly a project that has grief attached to it, it鈥檚 still a joyful process,鈥� he said.
It seems inevitable that more le Carr茅 thrillers will follow. Harkaway also plans to continue writing under his own name and in his own style, with a sequel to 鈥淭itanium Noir鈥� due to be published in April.
鈥淜arla鈥檚 Choice鈥� carries a double dedication: To David John Moore Cornwell, 鈥渇ather, husband, brother, son,鈥� and to 鈥淛ohn le Carr茅, novelist.鈥�
鈥淛ohn le Carr茅 was, among other things, a shield that my father created, because he was quite a shy guy,鈥� Harkaway said. 鈥淛ohn le Carr茅 was kind of the suit that he put on to be able to do it all. And then David Cornwell was my dad. He was a terrible cook, he was a ping pong player of enormous aggression and flair 鈥� he was the person I lived with.
鈥淚 wanted with that dedication to thank them both. And also just to remind everybody, he was an awful lot of things to a lot of people.鈥�
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
