Smiley's People (Paperback)

‘It’s an emergency, George. You remember Vladimir? George, are you awake? You remember the old General?’ The phone call that dragged George Smiley, acting Chief of the Circus, from his bed was a plea to return to active service. But only to bury the case, not to solve it…

The murdered man had been an agent - once, long ago. But George Smiley's superiors at the Secret Service want to see the crime buried, not solved. Smiley will not leave it at that, not when might lead him all the way to Karla, the elusive Soviet spymaster…

Smiley's People, the thrilling final confrontation between one of the most famous spies in all fiction and his Cold War rival, Karla, was the bestselling novel of 1979, and like Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy, was later dramatized by the BBC, with Alec Guinness starring as the eponymous Smiley.

'An achievement of subtlety and power of which few novelists would be capable.' Financial Times