‘Few writers have curated their image so effectively as John le Carré. In this page-turning follow-up to his 2015 biography, published when his subject was still kickingly alive, Adam Sisman completes the task of showing us who he was – a minor spy who became a major novelist, whose most important agents in the field were the women he needed to love and then betray. For le Carré, tradecraft was lovecraft. Much more than What Was Left Out, The Secret Life of John le Carré is not merely the conclusive homage to a compulsively fascinating character, but an insightful study into the biographical process itself. Even David Cornwell, the man who actually was John le Carré, would have saluted him’ Nicholas Shakespeare

‘A completely fascinating and revelatory book, written with great sagacity, candour and judiciousness’  William Boyd

‘Scrupulous…psychologically astute’  The Times

‘A fascinating examination of the biographer's art’  Washington Post

‘Revealing ... shocking’  Observer

‘Enlightening’ Wall Street Journal

‘Intriguing’  Spectator

‘Sisman here is, as always, readable, honest, careful’  Arts Desk

‘Scintillating’  Oldie

‘Fascinating’ New Statesman

‘Future accounts will have to wrestle with the bombshells dropped here’ Publishers Weekly